The Charger and the Ostrich (from Isaiah)

The Charger and the Ostrich (from Isaiah)

Isaiah used the horse and the ostrich as metaphores for faithful dependability vs. wreckless abandonment. Let us be the charging stallions that dependably promote the 'world view' of Jesus Christ and not the ostriches which abandon their eggs and stick their heads in the sand...

A coherent and rational world view is unique in Jesus Christ.
But there are many who have clearly been enticed

Into thinking that other paths offer a better world view.
This happens when people are in ignorance of what is really True.

God has not made us like the Grasshopper who quickly fears and flies
He has given us a spirit of strength, that unto challengers we may rise.

Oh the ostrich is hardened against the young as though they were not hers
Because God has deprived her of wisdom, she despises it with curses and slurs

Her labour is in vain without fear of the Lord and as she lifts up herself on high
She scorns the horse and rider and with darkened philosophy attempts to deny.

But she did not give the horse his strength, nor did she clothe his neck with thunder
She cannot make him afraid, she cannot tear his confidence asunder.

For the glory of his nostrils is terrible, He trots through every valley
He rejoices at his strength of his conviction and meets the enemy in their darkened alley

He laughs at fear, and is not afraid nor does he turn back from their sword
Their quivers and glittering spears rattle against him, but he stands by the Lord.

He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage ignoring the enemy’s horns
Neighing at the trumpets he follows the smells of battle, Truth is the shield he adorns.

So study the Word of God and understand the consistency of the Christian world view.
And then boldly go out to meet the enemy – and know that God will be with you.

Now, Augustine left Christ for a lack of rational explanations.
Drawn to Manichees thought for their intellectual preparations.

But Ambrose brought him back into the Christian flock
By meeting his questions with patience and holy-rational talk.

You see Christ is Truth, but that’s much more than dogmatism lead.
As the Pharisees whose grasp of God’s wisdom had gone dead.

God deserves our worship without question, but let’s remember why.
That we may counter the accusations of those who would deny.

Peter said to ‘set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and readily confess
Be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess’

Yet do it with gentle courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience and name,
So that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

Isaiah says, ‘Unless you have believed you will not understand.’
So since we do, let’s be ready with His reason, that His kingdom may expand.

Paul says he wasn’t sent to baptize, but to teach the good news
But not with words of human wisdom that the philosophers might use.

This, he says, would empty the cross of Christ of its power.
For the cross is foolishness to those who still in darkness cower.

But it is the power of God, that we who are being saved, realize
For Isaiah writes 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

The intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
…Go on, Blind yourselves Be blind and apostate;

You become drunk and stagger, but not with booze.
For the Lord has poured out a spirit which causes you to snooze.'

He has shut the eyes of you philosophers and seers will not look.
The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book

When given to the literate, saying, ‘Please read God’s truth revealed’
They will respond 'I cannot, for to me it is sealed.'

Then to the illiterate the book will be offered ‘Please read this.’
And he will say, ‘I cannot read.’ (Meaning ignorance is bliss) ”

But it isn’t meant to always end with this unhappy ending.
Let us pray that someday, God will bless them, His holy spirit sending.

For unlike those whose worship was confined to rote script.
True worship involves calling lost home from their bondage in Egypt.

Let our actions be our worship and the holy-spirit be our shielding word.
That such condemnation from our Lord will not some day be heard:

“Though this people may draw near with their words learned by rote,
They may honor Me with lip service, some grumblings from the throat.

But their hearts are far removed. Their reverence for Me consists of their tradition
So behold, I will deal marvelously with this people so free of inhibition

The wisdom of your wise men will be repealed
And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.

Woe to those who deeply hide their plans Jesus
And in darkness say 'Who knows us? 'Who sees us? '

Like the ostrich whose head and eggs are in the sand
Your logic is inverted and deprived of what others understand

Can you put fear into a brave charger that I embolden every day?
Shall the Potter ever be considered equal to the clay?

“Shall the pot say of its maker ‘He did not make me, He has no comprehension’?
What underlies these blasphemies might be a cry for help or attention.”

So Paul encourages: Where is the wise man? The scholar? The philosopher of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the existential sage?

With the wisdom of God with you, who could stand against?
The deceivers have no understanding of the feelings that they’ve sensed.

For since the world through its wisdom did not know that they were deceived
He was pleased through the irony of what was preached to save those who believed.

Some may demand miraculous signs and others look for rationalizations
But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block and foolishness to the nations

But to those God calls, His foolishness is wiser than any human light
And the weakness of God is stronger than any man's might.

Brothers, think of what you were before you found God’s treasure
Not many were influential or noble, or were wise by human measure;

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weaklings of the world to shame the stronger guys.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised
The things that were rejected, to nullify the things that are prized.

So that no one may boast before Him of his own accord.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus: the wisdom from Lord

“But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness over thee

My justice and righteousness over all the earth rings
For I delight in these things'


Based on
Isaiah 29
Jerimiah 9
1st Corinthians 1-2
1st Peter 3 &
Job 39

Daniel Partlow
 
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