Sermon for March 14th, 2021

Job 39:13-30 (OT p.486)

13 The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
    though its pinions lack plumage.
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them,
    and that a wild animal may trample them.
16 It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
    though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
17 because God has made it forget wisdom,
    and given it no share in understanding.
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft,
    it laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its might?
    Do you clothe its neck with mane?
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
    Its majestic snorting is terrible.
21 It paws[c] violently, exults mightily;
    it goes out to meet the weapons.
22 It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
    it does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon it rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
    it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’
    From a distance it smells the battle,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
    and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes its nest on high?
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
    in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29 From there it spies the prey;
    its eyes see it from far away.
30 Its young ones suck up blood;
    and where the slain are, there it is.”