Learn From the Animals and the Birds

Thank you very much, Robert Bates, for that very fine special music. We like to talk about things dealing with nature when we're out here. Certainly mountains, we're all surrounded by them, and hills. And as we look at the beauty around us, it really takes thousands of things to be able to make this composition, this beautiful canvas that we see around us, all the different trees, all the way from white oaks, all of these stately trees that not only bring us shade, but also air conditioning because the leaves process the moisture as well. And there was one man in particular in the Bible that God talked to about what we see around us. It was mentioned in the first message. We didn't coordinate it, but it's just natural that you focus on Job and how God taught Job valuable lessons that apply to us as well. Now, he didn't give Job many answers, but as a good teacher, he gave Job very good questions for him to meditate. As you know, some of the best teachers don't spell everything out for you. They want you to engage your mind and to ponder and to analyze, and then you can come up with the answers. And so God didn't insult Job's intelligence by just telling him everything. He asked Job, have you considered this or have you considered that? Just like a good teacher provokes people into learning by asking questions. It's called the inductive method, which is instead of just giving everybody the conclusion, you give the facts and then people have to come up and put the crossword puzzle or jigsaw puzzle together. And that's very satisfying when you do active thinking.

Job answered God in a certain way, a colloquial way. It would be like saying, yeah, I never thought of that, and I didn't think of this. And he just made God bigger and bigger in his sight. So God used the book of Job to teach us the difference between him and us.

And that, of course, includes his son as well. That is part of that Godhead, that is, the father and the son that make up the God family. This reminds me of what God explained, his view of things. It was brought out Isaiah 55. I have another scripture along that line. I saw it the other day, and in this version, called the message Bible, which is a little more of a paraphrase.

You have to be careful using some of these, but they do sometimes hit the nail right on the head and make it very graphic very colorful and vivid. It reminds me how God compares human beings to himself in Isaiah 40, verse 22. It says, God sits high above the round ball of the earth. When people thought the earth was flat, God was telling you that it was round.

God sits high above the round ball of the earth. The people looked like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas. Yes, like a tent canvas to live under. And so we know the universe is spreading just like a tent, which you spread out the walls with the pegs, and you stretch it out.

God is stretching out the universe. And so there are three incredible things he mentions here. One is the roundness of the earth. The second has to do with how we appear to him like little ants. If an ant could look at a human being from where it's at, we would be all enormous giants. They'd have to walk out so we don't step on them. Well, God looks at us like tiny little ants. Again, the subject about, is God fair?

It's like an ant asking a human being about, give me the same intelligence. Can I compare with a human intelligence? Well, certainly you can't. And sometimes we can't forget who we are addressing. Job was going through a terrible trial at that time, and he began to question God's fairness and handling of the situation of his sickness and many other things. I'm sure as we go through things, we question and we say, well, why did God permit this or that?

Why am I going through these things? Doesn't God realize how much I'm going through? Why doesn't he answer my prayers right away? Why doesn't he get rid of the trial? But as we see, in the end, Job learned many things. And he was very, very, very, very important. And if he hadn't gone through those trials, he would not have learned them in this life. Maybe he would have been an excellent member of the church at that time. He was a man outstanding. He obeyed God. He was very zealous. His household, he always was careful to apply God's principles.

And yet Job had a bit of this self-righteousness. And he started thinking that he didn't deserve the trial that he had gone through. And that he started questioning God. And he started thinking, well, God, if I were in your place, I wouldn't do these things.

I wouldn't do it in the same way. And he had to learn to be patient, to be humble, and to realize that God is on our side. Satan is the one that's against us. Don't ever put God against us unless we go into Satan's side. People forget that sometimes. It's not God who moved. It's we who moved from God's side to Satan's side. Started doing what Satan wants us to do. And of course, that many times breaks God's heart. It disappoints him.

But he is on our side. And notice what James chapter 5 verses 10 through 11 say about Job. I'm going to read it from the New Living Translation. It says, For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

And so God has our best interests in mind. And he works so that everything does turn out for good in the end, not during the time we're going through things. And many times if we examine our lives, we can see why certain things have happened. And we shouldn't blame God. We should blame the consequences of our conduct, the consequence of our decisions. Many times have a lot to do with what we go through. Now, not every time we still live in a world where chance and happenstance do occur. But as we have put it in the church, you're not going to fall off that tightrope that everybody walks in life and you're always balancing things. And sometimes you will slip. God's not going to avoid you falling on occasion, but we have a safety net. God's going to cushion that fall. He's going to make sure we can get up again. See, that's the difference. People that don't have God, boy, when they fall, there's no safety net. They crash and burn many times. Whereas God says, you had to learn certain things, but here's the safety net. Here's the cushion. You will stand up. As he says, the righteous falls seven times and he gets up again. God makes sure of that.

And so I'd like to focus on three verses in particular. Job chapter 12, verses 7 through 9. I'm going to read to you in the Good News Bible. Again, sometimes the book, these different versions give it a clear sense. And so it says here, as Job is going through that trial, questioning things, and an answer is given. It says, even birds and animals have much they could teach you. As the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom, all of them know that the Lord's hand made them. And so he's saying, look, if the birds and the creatures could talk to you, they would say, do you think we made ourselves? Do you think we have all of these abilities because we were smarter or we worked at it? No, somebody created us with these awesome and incredible features. And look at us, and we can teach you about God's care, his perfection, his power. And so we can learn from the animals and the birds. And that's what I propose to do today, giving you four examples of some birds and creatures that are mentioned. Some in the Bible, some are just mentioned in a general sense, birds. So I'd like to go ahead and hand out this illustration I have. Please, George.

Just go ahead and pass one there. And you can take this one and pass it at the back as well.

That way we have a couple so everybody gets a chance while I'm speaking to go over these four illustrations, because we can learn so much from the animals about believing in God that nothing like evolution could have created them, that they can teach us, for us to learn to praise and marvel and give thanks to God for what he does. And if we do so, as Job learned, all of a sudden that trial that looked so huge, he realized in God's hands it wasn't that big, because look at the way God takes care of all the animals. He feeds them through different methods and processes that he set up. And so Job's world was shrunken when he saw the greatness of God. And the more we see God in our lives and the greatness of God, even something as simple as the weather we have today. A lot of people prayed for this. We've had times when it was going to be raining, and here we had a day where it didn't go through. We've always been able to carry it out thanks to God's mercy and love toward us.

And so the more we honor God and consider his greatness, then we can see our smallness.

And look, we're going to have eternal life one day if we keep his way of life. We're going to be in God's kingdom, which is a much better world than what we see. And that's what he has promised us. He hasn't promised us a gravy train through this life. But there's going to be a tremendous one later on in the future if we have, as it says here, the Job, a man of great endurance. So he was developing that character in Job. And as we see the different character traits in animals, we can learn from them as well. So let's look at one of the birds that we can recognize. Is it creaking a lot? No, I don't think it's transmitting through that. That's the radio.

Okay, it has to pick up. All right. Yeah, because it's a wireless. Thank you, Mike.

See, God always puts the people we need in the church, too. We need a good sound man because if without him, I couldn't do my job very well. Still a little tuning.

Okay, so let's look at one of them. I'm going to talk about a bird that my wife, Cady, and I are able to see almost every day. It comes to our house. We have a little hummingbird feeder. I actually have two of them, and Cady keeps that field every day, and it's like coming to the gas station. They just love that.

Well, keep testing this until I can get it right. And so, let me tell you a little bit about that little hummingbird. How many have these little bird feeders like this? Can I see a couple? Okay, they have one. But we have one that has this red ruby type breast, and it just always marvels us. You've got one like that, too.

The hummingbird is described as a mini helicopter. It's the only bird that can fly in any direction. It can go forward, backward, sideways, up, and down. It's the only one that can do that in mid-air. You never know which way it can go. It can do that because it is the only one, instead of flapping its wings, it actually goes in an eight, figure eight. And so, it builds up this type of lift that's like a helicopter. And so, it's doing this figure eight because it's got these very flexible shoulder blades, and it is beating its wings an average of 60 times a second. Not a minute! A second is just a little span of time, and it has beaten its wings 60 times per second. That's 3,600 times per minute. And it doesn't get tired.

It can do that all day long.

Its tongue that drinks the nectar is so fast that it actually goes in and gets the nectar and sucks it up 20 times per second. The tongue itself is going that fast.

It pollinates 8,000 species of flowers, which is a very important job.

Because as it goes in, some of the pollen is stuck in its beak, and it goes to the next one. And that pollen is what's needed to pollinate. That's the equivalent of the little sperm cells for creatures to be able to get in the ovum. Well, the pollen are the little sperm cells that go into the flowers where they have their little ovum in that sense, and this is the way they can reproduce. If they don't have the pollen, they can't reproduce. So there are 8,000 species of flowers that depend upon that little hummingbird. Is it working or not too well? Okay, good. Okay.

Notice what Christ said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 29 through 31. In the New Living Translation again, it says, what is the price of two sparrows?

Sparrows are bigger than little hummingbirds. And to be able to use them for a sacrifice, it says, one copper coin, which is equivalent of like a penny. That's how much it costs in Christ's day. He says, but not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. How many? No, how many? A mother loves their children more than any other, even the father. It's a different type of love, but motherly love, she's so aware of everything that's going on in the children. But I don't know any mother who loves her children to the point where they will count every hair on their head. Because there are about 120,000 of them on the average head.

But God says He knows everyone. How much? Because He's that concerned about the details of our lives. He knows what we're going through. And so Christ says, so don't be afraid. You are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

And so if God can make a hummingbird and make it flap 60 times per second, He is going to take care of us. It is just that we lack the faith to trust Him enough to walk with Him every day.

The second example is a funny type of a bird that is in the Bible that God tells Job, have you considered this bird? One of the biggest birds there are. The ostrich.

Notice what it says in Job 39 verses 13 through 17.

It says, in ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but not because she loves her young. She abandons her eggs and lets the dusty ground keep them warm.

And she doesn't seem to worry that the feet of an animal could crush them at all. She treats her eggs as though they were not her own, unconcerned that her work might be for nothing.

God says, I myself made her foolish and without common sense.

I believe that's the good news Bible version.

Now, scientists who have studied the ostrich through the years, you have ornithologists, which are the ones who study birds in particular, zoologists who study animals, biologists. Here's an article from a biologist, Dr. George Howe, who studied whether this is true, what is mentioned in the book of Job. And he wrote an article called Job and the Ostrich, a case study in biblical accuracy. Because after he studied the whole matter, he says this is exactly what scientists have found. He says, critics have questioned the accuracy of statements about the ostrich in Job 39.

A study of ostrich life history, mating habits, nesting behavior, and care of the young reveals that the Bible account is completely reliable in every detail.

He talks about how ostriches are easily frightened, and they go into a panic many times for very dumb things. It says, the foolish running of the ostrich frequently leads to broken legs. Here's what an ostrich breeder, Annie Martin, who wrote a book about it, says, but his mad scamper will almost probably end a few miles off with a tumble into a wire fence and a broken leg. They don't have enough sense to stop running around crazy.

Martin summarizes this apparent lack of wisdom on the part of the ostrich by stating that to revert again to the book of Job, their character could not possibly have been more perfectly summed up than it is in the words, because God has deprived her of wisdom. Neither has he imparted to her understanding. While describing these birds, says Dr. Howe, in a historical novel, Robinson comments on their apparent lack of wisdom. They have, quote, the brains of a maggot and the strength of a mule as a kind of a dangerous combination.

Picro, another expert on ostriches, mentions their violent reaction to dogs, which frequently leads to their death.

And Schreiner, another expert, tells of cockfights that also frequently prove fatal. He attributes the preponderance of females over males to the cockfights.

The male ostriches just get into so many fights and they break each other's legs. And once an ostrich breaks its leg, it's done for.

The male birds kick at each other through wire fences, thus breaking legs. He also says that cocks frequently die when from behind their fence. Excuse me here.

It says they attempt to attack people.

Anybody ever had experiences with ostriches?

Not too many, but we've dealt with them. They sure are awfully dumb. You get close to them, they'll eat almost anything off of you as it brings out.

It says the ostriches' lack of wisdom is further demonstrated by items it snatches and swallows unexpectedly.

Anne Martin, who is this breeder, speaks of some ostriches in a zoo that died of poisoning from pennies fed to them. She also recalls one ostrich tried to swallow her earring, while yet another bird swallowed a farm manager's lighted pipe and was none the worse for wear. So even the thing with smoking, he swallowed it all. In his story, Robinson tells of ostriches swallowing such bizarre items as scarf pins, hat pins, lighted cigars, and watches. He mentions birds pulling the handkerchief from the cook's rear pocket and one particular ostrich which drank coffee. Schneider's statement confirms Job 39.14-16 about the laying of eggs in sand and female cruelty.

Such hens generally attach themselves to the cock whose attentions they have attracted, often by intruding into his nest and remaining in the immediate neighborhood, and lay regularly at any rate for a time in his nest. If they cannot lay in the nest because it is already occupied, they will not go at once to another nest, but will deposit their eggs just outside the nest. But if there are other hens to one nest so much bother and soothes that some of them be take themselves to other nests. Others lay in any nest indiscriminately and are a great nuisance to the farmer. Certain additional aspects of ostriches bear out the truth of Job 39.14-16. Anxious habits of ostriches during egg laying endanger the eggs themselves. One occupies a nest. The other, broody hens, lying or standing about close at hand, thus betraying its presence. When she arises, whichever of the other hens is quickest, perhaps a laying hen takes her place. Under these conditions, a great many eggs are broken both before sitting begins and afterwards. The hens do not sit by turns. There is no plan in their proceedings at all. So, Dr. Howe concludes, on the basis of these observations, the Bible statement that ostriches have been deprived of wisdom is fully vindicated. Now, in Job 39 verse 26, it talks about another bird.

God asks Job if he knows so much. Does he know this about the hawk? He asks, does the hawk fly by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?

So, he's talking about the hawk's annual migration toward the south occurs without Job's wisdom or permission.

Now, there are many hawks found in Orange County.

The appeal here is to the hawk because it is among the most rapid of the birds in its flight. So, God is saying to Job, did you make the hawk? Did you make him fly as fast as this? He draws Job's attention, in particular, to the hawk. Now, right here, I've seen hawks sometimes when we've been together in these areas. And one of those hawks, which actually, the falcon is part of the family of the hawk. The hawk is a bit bigger. The falcon is a bit smaller. It's more streamlined. But they have what's called the paragreen falcon.

And I imagine it's because like paragreen means migrating. It migrates. It's also called the duck hawk. It is the fastest living creature reaching speeds of 200 miles per hour when swooping from great heights during territorial displays or while catching prey birds in mid-air. And they're just so fast. They are like a dive bomber. They tuck in their wings and it's like a bullet. It can reach those types of speeds. And God is saying, did you make that type of bird? Can you do this, Job? Now, Job, I made that bird, but I don't know how to conduct human affairs. I don't know how to deal with you. And I can do all these other things. See, that's the hidden question there. Are you questioning with all you see the evidence that I can handle this? That I know what I'm doing? Because human beings can get so hottie and vain and think that they're smarter than God. They can do things better than God. And this takes us to the final illustration. For this one, we have to go to Proverbs chapter 6 verses 6 through 11. And it is the ant. The friendly little ant that we have.

If you look down on the ground, you're going to see a couple of ants here or there.

And this is what God says, the good news Bible version, says lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. They have no leader, chief or ruler, but they store up their food during the summer. Getting ready for winter. How long is a lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up?

I'll just take a short nap, he says. I'll fold my hands and rest a while. But while he sleeps, poverty will attack him like an armed robber. And so many times, a person, because of their lazy habits, don't have a steady job, they don't continue going forward in life. Many times, again, we can all lose our jobs on occasion. But here, God is talking about, look at the ant, this little creature with a little tiny brain, but it does its job on time.

So when God says, look at the ant, what does it mean? Does it mean we should look like an ant? I don't think so. So, it's not talking about physical traits of the ant, but looking at the character traits of the ant. Character traits deal with the makeup, the way it acts, the personality, the temperament, and attitude. So, first of all, it's saying that the ants are industrious. They're hard workers. Have you ever seen an ant take a break? Have you ever seen them swinging from a nice hammock? They're always busy because they know winter's coming. No one supervises their work, but they all accomplish their part on time.

There are three types of ants. The queen, that's the one that reproduces all the little ants. You have the sterile female workers that do a lot of the work, and then you have the males who don't do too much. They just impregnate the queen many times. That's why they call them drones that type of activity, but they do their part as well. Every ant has at least one job, and some change jobs during their lifetime. And whatever it is, you can count on them to carry out their duties. Some gather food for the colony. When an ant finds food, it lays down a scent trail for others to follow. So it not only finds it, but it lays out a scent trail so that other little ants can get to work. They found food. They found food.

Some ants store the food they harvest in special chambers in the nest.

Others feed and care for the queen and developing the young. Still others build the chambers and tunnels. They use their saliva to make the dirt walls hard. So it's the cement from their saliva that hardened the walls. Some are soldiers that defend the colony that can be millions of ants and fight off their enemies, which can be other ants or other insects. And they worked together.

Some have seen that when floods come, the ants, to protect the queen ant and her eggs from the water that would drown her and that way that'd be the end of the reproduction, they actually link their legs together to build a boat where they put the queen and her eggs and so that they make a portable boat. That's how industrious they are. And so just like ants are industrious, we should be. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9-10, God's word version, whatever presents itself for you to do, do it with all your might.

In the New Testament, we have the equivalent in Colossians 3 verse 23. It says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men. So an ant is that way. It is diligent. It does its job. It has its own motivation to get things done.

That takes us to the second characteristic of the ant. They have self-initiative. It says the ant has no commander, no overseer or ruler.

But it says here that it doesn't have anybody pushing it. It has self-initiative, self-motivation. It stores its provisions in the summer and gathers its food at harvest.

And so they lead themselves. They don't have a supervisor. They do their job in an excellent way.

In a sense, that is pride in your work. Now, there's a type of ant called the parasol.

Parasol means kind of this umbrella. Ant carries leaves like umbrellas.

Then they find a place to plant their garden. They chew the leaves and make a pulp that makes garden soil. And then the fungus grows on the pulp, which makes the food for the ant colony. So it's kind of a vegetable garden, which the food is always being created.

So these ants have self-initiative. And number three, the ants know when to do things. They know what to do in each season.

We also have to learn that to pace ourselves.

There are going to be times in life when things are very busy. A lot of things to carry out, and you got to prepare. You got to get up early. You got to plan and get the thing done. But then afterwards, you have to pace yourself. You have to take a break and slow down the pace. Recover. Strengthen yourself for the next thrust forward. I like what Benjamin Franklin once said, that life should be divided into three parts.

The first part is learning. Make sure you get a good education. Make sure that you have a quality mind that knows how to reason, how to analyze things right, how to make good decisions. How to have the knowledge that is going to help others and is going to be valuable in life. No matter... there's so many different things, but if you're good at what you do, it's going to be an opening forward in your life. But you have to master it. Make sure what you do.

It doesn't matter whether you want to become a mechanic. Or a scientist. Or a rocket engineer. But whatever your mind sets to do, be the best. Master it. Work at it. Perfect it. And you will be a success in the financial terms. And so notice the chart of the character traits of the ants that we have illustrated. Anybody have that hand out for a second? And they can... we passed out a couple. I'd like to look at one of them. That is there.

Yeah, if you could pass it to us for a minute, Sam. Yeah, pass that over to me. I just want to look at the character traits. God plays these creatures and they're an example for us to learn from.

Here in the second page, it has the ant and it has the sluggard.

The contrast between the two characteristics. The ant is considered wise in its own way because it knows what to do.

It carries out its duties. The sluggard is foolish. It doesn't carry out.

The ant is a hard worker. The sluggard is lazy, unreliable. The ant is a preserver. It's always looking at storing and making sure there's enough food there.

The sluggard likes idleness. They like to not do much.

The ant cooperates, works as a team. The sluggard hates work. It's a burden. The ant is diligent. The sluggard thinks he's a know-it-all.

Number seven here. Number six. The ant is responsible. The sluggard makes excuses.

Number seven. The ant takes initiative. The sluggard doesn't finish things. The ant finally enjoys learning. And the sluggard doesn't want to learn.

So, as it says again in Proverbs 6, 6-9, lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. They have no leader, chief, or ruler, but they store up their food during the summer. Getting ready for winter. How long is a lazy man going to lie around? When is he ever going to get up? There's a time to sleep. There's a time to work. And there's a time to study. There's a time to do your homework. There's a time to play and enjoy things. And if you have everything in its right place, it's going to be a wonderful life. You have to learn. There's a time when you have to drop things and play with your grandkids and have them feel you love them and that they're number one in your life. And then afterwards, you pick up and you continue doing your duties and your job. Everything has a place, and there is a place for everything. And so, as we have learned today from these four illustrations, the first one, we covered the hummingbird and just the majesty, the marvel, that nothing could ever have created such an engineering wonder except an all powerful and all wise God. And then we have the funny creature like an ostrich, which God created it. And in a sense, it's a good thing an ostrich is a pretty dumb animal because if it was pretty smart, maybe it could round up itself and kill people. They're very powerful creatures, but they're too dumb to do that. And finally, the last two, we talked about the hawk and the beauty of the way it can glide through the air and no one to migrate south. Finally, the lesson of the ant, how we can all learn about the ant does rest in the wintertime. They do go into a type of hibernation and they're able to rest. But then when springtime comes, there they are right at it again. And so it's a wonderful lesson. So not only do the heavens declare the glory of God, as it mentions in Psalms 19, verses 1 through 5. But as we learn from Job chapter 12 verse 7, we can also learn from the animals and the birds that declare how great God is.