This passage contains an interesting and powerful contrast. Sinful human action is like a war horse, charging into battle. What is such a charge like? It is determined and direct. It is forceful, intent on driving through every obstacle. It is directed by a distinct purpose, the fulfillment of the rider’s own intention. It is intended to take the initiative, to set its own agenda and gain control of the circumstances. God defines this self-assertion as sinful.
It is contrasted to the migrations of the stork and the thrush. Their chief characteristic is their responsiveness. It is of these migrations that they do not initiate but respond to another’s initiative. They are the model of faithful discipleship.
© 2010 Gary A. Chorpenning
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 
So, a faithful disciple responds to God’s calling and acts according to His agenda not their own. Right? Now, the stork or thrush… who’s initiative are they responding to? One bird who tends to lead them?
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Or maybe just responding to the “initiative” of the seasons changing? I bet this is a very natural, innate, or automatic response.
The verses tell me that sinners who are not concerned with repentance will learn eventually that they should have feared the wrath of the Lord.
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Yeah, I think the metaphor is just aiming at the kind of spirit or character orientation. In one case, the orientation is to try to force matters along on one’s own terms. In the other, the orientation of character is to discern the moving of a greater power (God) and to follow that moving. It strikes me that the latter orientation might well be characterized as “meekness.”
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makes me think of submissive, yielding, obedient, compliant….
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That’s the idea, I think, though not “passive.”
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right, not passive or weak. I like “compliant” How about Roger Wilco 🙂 as in information received and will comply – active.
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