The Pride of Life

Job 39:1-30 

1 "Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young?
Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill?
Or do you know the time when they bear young?
3 They bow down,
They bring forth their young,
They deliver their offspring.
4 Their young ones are healthy,
They grow strong with grain;
They depart and do not return to them.

5 "Who set the wild donkey free?
Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
6 Whose home I have made the wilderness,
And the barren land his dwelling?
7 He scorns the tumult of the city;
He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,
And he searches after every green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Will he bed by your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great?
Or will you leave your labor to him?
12 Will you trust him to bring home your grain,
And gather it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork's?
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground,
And warms them in the dust;
15 She forgets that a foot may crush them,
Or that a wild beast may break them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers;
Her labor is in vain, without concern,
17 Because God deprived her of wisdom,
And did not endow her with understanding.
18 When she lifts herself on high,
She scorns the horse and its rider.

19 "Have you given the horse strength?
Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
20 Can you frighten him like a locust?
His majestic snorting strikes terror.
21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
He gallops into the clash of arms.
22 He mocks at fear, and is not frightened;
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against him,
The glittering spear and javelin.
24 He devours the distance with fierceness and rage;
Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!'
He smells the battle from afar,
The thunder of captains and shouting.

26 "Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,
And spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle mount up at your command,
And make its nest on high?
28 On the rock it dwells and resides,
On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
29 From there it spies out the prey;
Its eyes observe from afar.
30 Its young ones suck up blood;
And where the slain are, there it is."

The LORD God continued to confront Job’s wisdom as flawed, demonstrating His power over creation and comparing it to man’s lack of understanding and wisdom.  He mentioned goats and deer give birth at times not known to Job, how wild donkeys are free because God set them free, and how a wild ox will not just willingly serve mankind.  These things are in God’s providence and power, not ours, and so should humble our pride in thinking we know so much (Proverbs 3:19).  He compared the ostrich to people, not taking care of her young because God deprived it of wisdom and did not provide understanding to the proud bird which outraces horsemen.  As to horses, the LORD asked if Job gave them their strength or brings fear to them.  In their majesty, the horses refuse to fear and charge into battle.  Even the hawks and other majestic birds of prey do not fly by the wisdom of Job or any other man.  They soar on high as God made them, spying out their prey from up above.  All these examples were given to challenge Job’s supposed wisdom as veiled in very limited understanding.  God’s wisdom and understanding rule His creation, and that includes mankind in our pride.  The uprightness of Job was not his self-righteousness or own wisdom; those things originate in God alone, and He was using these things to humble Job that he might wait on God for comprehension of his suffering in unwarranted adversity.  This teaches us by example to trust and wait on God when we suffer, and not to put words in His mouth to make sense of adverse situations we find ourselves in.  We are to avoid the pride of life by doing God’s will instead according to His word (1 John 2:16-17), humbling ourselves in the sight of the Lord to see His mercy and grace.