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It might seem strange to you for me to preach about a bird, but the truth is that the Bible uses animals to teach many lessons about our lives. Job said:

Because it was God who created all things then it follows that we can learn lessons from the animals and the earth and the sea about our walk with God. And it's true. We need to learn about sowing and reaping and the effect of the rain fall upon us in the Spirit. We need to learn about the sea that I so recently preached about (see the sermon "No More Sea"). And we certainly can learn tremendous lessons from the animals found in scripture. And before you say that people are intellectually superior than animals, you might be reminded that the donkey saw the angel when the false prophet Balaam did not. And the pigs in the Gadarenes would rather drown than live under the influence of demons. And you might be reminded that the animals of Noah's day responded to the call and beckoning of God to get on the Ark of safety, and in doing so left behind a bunch of people who resisted the sermons of Noah and were taken away by the Flood!

Solomon said that we could learn quite a bit from the ant, how that they plan for winter and work tirelessly through the summer hours. We also find that there is a great spiritual lesson from the animals that were called clean and unclean under Moses' law, because we find in Acts chapter 10 that they represented the Jewish people and the Gentile people and when the clean, the Jewish people, refused Him, God turned to making a people that was unclean, clean! Jesus, Himself, was likened to the "Lion from the tribe of Judah," and also the "Lamb of God." And who couldn't learn a lesson from the Psalmist when he wrote:

Some people live their lives as a horse or a mule, having no understanding of their circumstances are able to figure out for themselves what they should do, but rather are useful for the kingdom of God only if someone puts a bridle on them and stays on them. And the Psalmist said "be ye not" like that. Some people only come to church if the Pastor or friends stay on them about it. Some people only pray if the last few sermons have been on prayer. Some people only worship freely when the worship leader really pumps them up and pushes them into it. Some people can only serve God if there's a bad situation that serves as a bridle forcing them to turn to God. But God wants us to serve Him not out of harness and being pushed to, but rather out of understanding and love! There's a powerful lesson in that scripture! Maybe I should preach a whole sermon on "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule!" There might be some who need to hear it!

I think it was Bro. Tannehill who shared with me that the first few moments of a baby giraffe's life consists of falling about four feet to the ground with a "thunk" and then the mother begins to kick it over and over again until it tries to stand up. Sounds cruel, but the mother knows that if it never tries to stand up, then it will not develop the strength to be able to get away from a predator attack. I think the lesson learned was that if God's kicking you, then He probably has a good reason! I also remember reading somewhere about not only does the giraffe have the longest neck of all animals, but it also has the biggest heart, because it has to be extremely strong to get the blood up that great distance. Maybe God was trying to tell us that if you are going to be willing to stick your neck out for people, you'd better have big heart to back it up! Maybe that would be the lesson of the giraffe!

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But I'm not here to preach about giraffes or mules; I want to preach about the lessons learned from ostriches. There are not many sermons preached on ostriches and one of the reasons is that ostriches are not a common bird in America wildlife and so we are not all that familiar with them. Another reason that there are so few mentions of ostriches in sermons is that the King James Version, often erroneously translates the Hebrew word for ostrich as "owl." The British linguists, you see, weren't all that familiar with ostriches either, and so substituted something more common, that unfortunately doesn't quite match. The New King James and other versions correct these mistakes and so in the Bible you find that there really is several verses referring to ostriches. At least more than you probably thought. All are in the Old Testament, and Job really liked to talk about them. In fact, we have these words of Job:

Which the New King James Version corrects to read:

It was commonly known that the jackals and ostriches lived in desolate, forsaken places away from humanity and civilization and so while Job was going through his trial -- you may remember that Job went through a severe test of God where he lost all that he had, including his family, wealth, health, and wife -- Job felt like that he was now living a life in loneliness and desolation. It was a natural response to someone in Job's situation, but one that God answered when He appeared to Job at the end of the trial. And in this appearance, it was God that said the words of our text to Job. God brought up the ostrich to Job:

And so God began to use characteristics of the ostrich and compare them to Job's circumstance. God was like "you mentioned you felt like ostriches, Job, do you even really know the reason that I created them the way that they are?" And the fact that God even brings this up to Job is that obviously God created the ostrich with certain circumstances that He doesn't want people to respond like when they are going through a bad situation. We can learn a lot from Job, because there are going to be times in our life when we all go through down times or trials or hardships. But if you are really going to learn the lesson of Job, then you must learn the lesson that Job had to learn, and that was the lesson of the Ostrich. God cares more for how you react to your trial than He does the trial itself. A storm is nothing to God, but a faithful child is. So God created the ostrich with a purpose and that was to teach us how NOT to act as we go through life. With the ostrich, God has again used His creation to teach us about ourselves and how to live!

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We need to learn the lesson of the ostrich. I've never had a pet ostrich, but I've done quite a bit of reading about them, and I've seen them at the zoo. In fact when I go to the zoo, I like to watch ostriches. God truly made them "devoid of understanding." That's a nice way to say the "s" word ( that word is "stupid," for you people reading this on the website) with young children present. Let me share with you some of the characteristics of the ostrich, that all too often make their way into our lives today and that we must avoid if we are not to be Christians "devoid of understanding:"

This is what Jeremiah was referring to in our text from the book of Lamentations. Israel had become selfish, so God compared them to our big bird. Ostriches don't care for anybody else's needs, but focus only on their own situation and own wants. This is particularly true for mother ostriches. To be a mother is time consuming (can the mothers here say amen?) and very sacrificial and so ostriches don't do the mother thing. If you see an ostrich that is full grown, then know that he got there basically by himself. Without anybody to help him and probably never knew his mother. Because ostriches only care about themselves.

Some Christians are like that. They only care about their situation and that they get fed and they never get to the place where they help other people. They'll come to church as long as they feel it's meeting their needs, but if the preacher is preaching or ministering to someone else, they aren't on board. They'll find time to pray everyday about their life and their wants, but rarely call someone else's name or situation out before God. They'll come early to pray before church if they know that they need a special touch that night, but if everything is fine, then they don't bother, never stopping to think that there might be someone else that needs to receive something that night. Similarly, they will praise God with everything within them if they need something but never realize that somebody else might need a breakthrough and faith boost from a praise filled environment.

Some people never get the revelation that being unfaithful to services hurts not just them but the church body. The scriptures say that we "are the body of Christ." Try to walk with a leg missing. Try to throw a ball with only two fingers. If we are truly the body of Christ, then your lack of faithfulness hurts what God is able to do in that service. It may be your faith and your response to the Word that ushers in someone else into the presence of God. Somebody learn the lesson of the Ostrich today, and realize that somewhere, we've got to get beyond just thinking of ourselves!

In fact, one of the most common ways that ostriches die is from eating something that kills them. They can't tell the difference between what is good for them and what is bad for them. At the zoo, you will see a big sign that says "don't feed the ostriches, they'll eat anything." They are particularly drawn by what something looks like. There is more than one documented case of ostriches on a battlefield swallowing a red-hot bullet and it killing them, all because they thought it looked interesting.

Some people are no smarter than the ostrich. They'll let anything into their house. They'll watch and consume anything. I get worried about people who can leave a church service and then go sit down and watch filth. I get worried about people who can go to church anywhere and be happy and just believe whatever some preacher tells them and takes it in and digests it without checking it out first. You'd better learn the lesson of the ostrich! All that looks pretty or appeals to your eyes isn't good for you! And just because you can do something doesn't mean that it's what you should do! If you are going to survive, spiritually, you'd better learn to tell the difference between things that are good and that are destructive!

The reasons that ostriches often swallow rocks and such that are harmful to them, is because of what their diet consists of in the first place. They seem to like the hardest and most indigestible foods and so they must eat other "roughage" to help them break the food up. And ostriches never seem to make the connection between what they first ate, and what they then HAD to eat! They don't understand what they willingly take in, determines their future appetites and is more than just a one meal choice, but is affecting their outlook for the future!

God told Job:

It's the one area that the ostrich exells in. She can outrun the swiftest horse when she decides to "get out of dodge." Some people are the same way. They are find and stable until a little trouble or problems pop up and then their greatest strength kicks in and that is they run away!

We had a man come to my father's church that had been running from a situation. He was a minister. He gave my dad a sob story about the problems that had arisen in the other church. He was very sincere and had a call of God on his life and dad eventually made him the outreach director. From one Sunday to Monday, this guy went from preaching about being "sold out to winning souls in this town" to gone! He packed up and left town and changed churches and we never saw him again. What really happened was that he and his family began to have the same conflicts and problems that they had had in the other church. The problem and trouble was with their actions, you see, but rather than face it he did what he always did, he ran. It was his greatest strength.

Let me tell you something: Once you start running, you will always be running. If you get offended and run, then beware that where ever you run to, you'll get offended again. This is not a perfect church because we have humans in it. You have a human for a pastor and humans for saints. When people come to me and criticize something about our church, they are telling me that they are the ones causing it. Judas Iscariot proves that you criticize what you have a problem with. When conflict arises, instead of making it right and changing their behavior according to the Word of God, some people just run away. But they will find that the same problems pop up in the next church and the next town. Because really, they are the problem. God was telling Job, "if you are going through something, don't run, but stay faithful and face it and allow me to take you through it!" Running is never the will of God for a child of God.

And the interesting thing about the ostrich is that it has wings like other birds, but it's wings never give it flight, but only help it to run away faster! It spread it's wings out when it runs to give it a little lift and make it somewhat lighter! Some people are like that! They get filled with the Holy Ghost and God lifts them up out of their miry clay on eagle's wings and yet despite they have been delivered, all they do is continue to run away from their issues! God didn't save you and lift you up on eagle's wings for you to be able to run, but rather for you to fly with Him!

Ostrich hunters have learned a peculiar characteristic about the running patterns of the bird. When running, the bird tends to run into the wind, and to run in broad circles. This makes it easier than one might think to kill one even though they are fast. They run into the wind because it better helps their wings. They run in circles because they are not running with a goal in mind but are just "trying to get away."

Someone better hear the lesson of the ostrich! When you run, not only do you not solve anything, but you become an easy target for the devil because you are just running in circles. The devil knows exactly what to tempt you with or bring up next time because your life is just cycle of problem, running, problem, running, problem running! You become an easy prey of hell, because your one strength is running away from the truth!

The ostrich has a complete and total lack of loyalty. She can forget about the responsibility that she had somewhere else in the drop of a hat. She can go on in a new place pretending that nothing ever happened and chooses to do that instead of dealing with the issue.

I'm amazed at how many people approach life without trying to take responsibility for anything. I'm also amazed at how unloyal people are. They'll get the Holy Ghost in a church or baptized in a church, and you can bend over backwards to help them, but if the preacher asks you to do one little thing that you don't like, they're gone! Any nest can do if they can convince themselves that they are all right. You're not alright, you're devoid of understanding! Which kind of leads me to the next point:

If it gets tired, the Ostrich will stick it's head so that it can't see anything, and it thinks that it's hidden. Sin blinds you to your faults. And some people think that just because they can't see their faults that nobody else can. But with the light of the Word of God shining on you, everybody can see except you. You need to pull you eyes out of the darkness and the reeds of sin and be truthful. With hidden sin, you're only fooling yourself!

They've tested this out. Want to run the ostriches out of the country? Plant a farm and crop land. Have a harvest. The ostrich will leave because it prefers the dry places.

Some people would prefer a dead church, or not be too much living water flowing or a harvest and growth. They'd prefer to go to a church where the ground is never plowed up so that they can be comfortable. Like the ostrich, they'll take a sip of water every now and then, but don't prefer too much of that Holy Ghost, living water stuff. You get to many people in here, and they might not get the personal attention that they always got. If the preacher is too anointed, he might talk about something that they need to change. If we get a harvest, then some of the new people might obey and grow beyond them, thus exposing their lack of growth for what it is: an excuse. Some people, like the ostrich and like the children of Israel, would prefer to stay in the wilderness rather than enter into the Promised Place of God! Especially if the Promised Place means standing up against some giants, obeying the man of God, or sacrifice!

And when ostriches do get loose in a field, they are famous for their ability to destroy it! Remember this: if people are not going to change, sometimes it's a blessing that they run so easily from their trouble!

My father never made any move, spiritual or in the natural, until he considered how it would affect his involvement to the local church and his responsibility to the will of God. Dad wasn't always a preacher and when he was a businessman, he was successful mainly I think because he always made company decisions based upon the church. He wanted to be able to bless the church with his tithes and offerings. He might not start a project if he knew a missionary was coming into town. He always made sure that all of his help were off in time to go to church three times a week. He always let them off for conferences and such.

When you make decisions to move or where to put your nest or job situations, you'd better think about spiritual nourishment in the equation! You're going to die without regularly being in a spiritual environment, being fed the manna from heaven! You'd better think about that while you are building the nest and not after! And that goes for deciding who to marry and who to be business partners with and so on...

When you don't plan a nest with food and water in mind, then it's always your children that are hurt the worst. Maybe you are strong enough to go a while in a dry place, but your family may not be! Learn the lesson of the ostrich and put your nest nearby a church and body that is flowing with the spiritual blessings of God

They like to show out. They like to strut. Remember that in the list of sins such as murder, hatred, adultery, and such that there is also one called "pride." Enough said!

Their mouth is their chief weapon of attacking! Oh, could I preach on this one a while! We could say the same for many Christians and some who would never dream of stabbing someone with a physical knife yet have their tongues so long that if you put some morsel of destructive knowledge about somebody else, they would slap their brains out trying to get to it! Remember that the Bible says that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." James said that if you say you are religious and can't control your mouth then your religion is in vain. If you can't control your mouth and stop cursing others, then you haven't really let God consume the inside as you should. It's not a word "slipping out" but it's what's really inside finally coming forth!

They enjoy attacking others with their mouth. You'd better stay away from gossips and realize that they are very "devoid of understanding." James said that the tongue is just as the bit in a horse's mouth and the helm of a huge ship. The key to controlling the body is the tongue. You ought to remember that. You only have as much control over your body as you do your tongue. You are only as spiritual and as submitted to God as your tongue is. You are only as saved, as your tongue . . . ! Ouch! Somebody better hear and heed the lesson of the Ostrich, tonight!

And let me say this. Remember, God brought up the ostrich to Job to reveal how NOT to act when he was going through something. Hurting people, hurt people. If people are always cutting others down and slandering them and talking bad about them and pointing out their faults, then they are hurting themselves and probably guilty of far more things than they are criticizing in others. Remember that the most impressive proof of God's power is when you are able to go through something and yet hold your tongue and not lash out and attack.

Remember the Roman soldier at the cross? He had gotten a revelation that day that he expressed when he said "surely, this was the Son of God." It wasn't the miracles that Jesus did that gave him that revelation. It wasn't the walking on water, or the feeding of the five thousand. It wasn't Jesus' preaching or teaching and great sermon points that did it. It wasn't even the casting out of devils. What caused him to come to that conclusion was that he witnessed for the first time, someone dying the horrible death of crucifixion and all of the people passing by and mocking and making fun and yet instead of hearing the dying man lash out in response, he heard only forgiveness. What the supernatural couldn't do, a forgiving spirit and a mouth that refused to curse others, did! We ought to remember that!

Let me move on:

I read recently that native Africans can only tell the difference in the sound of an ostrich and a lion by two things: 1. the time of day that the roar comes (the Ostrich roars in the daytime and the lion at night) or by getting close enough to really see the animal.

The point here is that in the day time, the ostrich puts up a pretty good imitation of a lion. Until you get close enough to really see it. That's the way some people are. They can put up a pretty good front of living for Jesus and being sold out to the Lion of Judah, as long as it's day time and everything is going good. But it's really just a facade that can be discovered by getting closer to them and really looking at what they really are.

Or you can tell the difference by how they sound in the night, because:

There is no roaring in the night for the ostrich, but they go to this mournful howling sound. The native Africans have also learned that a lion rarely roars during the day time, so if they hear a roar in the daytime, then they know that it's an ostrich, and if they hear a roar at night, then they know that it's a lion! I'm wary of people telling how faithful they are and how holy they are and how much they've changed when everything is going good in their life, because that's roaring in the daytime. When people come to me bragging on their obedience and proud of themselves because they are "living right" that pretty much tells me that when the night comes, they won't be able to do it. If you are truly like the Jesus that is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, then you will do your roaring in the nighttime! You will not just do what is right when it is convenient but you will be faithful even in the darkest night!

I've often heard the ostrich cry in churches. It sounds like: "Oh me." It's called a pity party, and it's one of the most self-destructing things that you can do. Maybe you really are in a nighttime -- we all go through them, but if you were a lion like unto Jesus Christ in the daytime, then the sun going down hasn't changed who you are! If you were really a child of God in the good times then you are still a child of the King in the bad times! You can hold your head up and smile because "weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!"

When people go into a trial and it causes them to be unfaithful, then they really weren't faithful in the first place. Your faithfulness is tested only when you have an opportunity to be unfaithful. If God had put Adam and Eve in the garden and hadn't forbidden anything, they really wouldn't have been faithful, they would have been robots. God allows night seasons in our lives and for the devil to tempt us so that we can prove our faithfulness. Doing right in the day time when everything is going good is not faithfulness. Doing right in the trial and temptation is. Job, when you're going through something, you'd better remember the lesson of the ostrich! God gave her to you so that you would know how NOT to act in such situations!

And I saved the best characteristic for last:

In the wild, when they are being watched, they will either run away, or if they can't get away, they will attack. A few years back, my wife's brother came down and we all took my niece to the zoo. We were sitting there looking at the African exhibit which has zebras and elephants and all sorts of weird things when I heard a snapping sound and looked down and saw an ostrich had come up to the look out point and was trying to bite us. If I'd have lowered my hand about twelve inches, there would have been no more piano for me! Now I understand what was happening. The ostrich didn't want us looking at it, and since there was no place to hide, it was trying to attack.

As a preacher, I've seen many people "devoid of understanding" like that ostrich. They don't want to be examined. They don't want to hear the truth. And if the preacher or God's Word puts it out there so that they have no place to hide, then they immediately attack. Such is the characteristic of the ostrich.

But remember it's the truth that will save you! It's the truth that will set you free! People who want to change love the truth and are drawn to it. People who are like ostriches and only putting up a front and are selfish and always run rather than change, hate truth and avoid it. That said, I want to be a preacher of truth and for this to be a church of truth, and for you to be people of the truth! To do that, we must learn the mighty lesson that God taught us through a witless bird. Learn the lesson of the ostrich!