Looking up

Look up at the heavens and see (Job 35:5).

If you put a buzzard in a pen eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird--in spite of his ability to fly--will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always takes off from the ground with a running start of at least ten feet. Without this amount of runway the buzzard will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner in a small jail with no top.

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open jar, will be trapped there until it dies. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find a way out through the sides of the jar near the bottom. It will seek a way out where there is no possibility of success, until it perishes.

A lot of people like the buzzard and the bumblebee. They feel trapped by their problems and frustrations, not realizing that their means of escape is right there above them. Consider the buzzard; because she doesn’t think that she has enough running room to take off, she doesn’t even try. Many people, discouraged by their problems, give up trying to find solutions; they conclude that their situation is hopeless. As for the bumblebee, his problem is that he looks for escape in the wrong places—he insists on seeking a way out at the bottom of the jar, never once thinking of looking up for freedom. Many people become so fixated on their problems that they batter themselves bloody by continually trying to change the unchangeable, not willing to abandon the struggle and consider a different way to achieve their goals.

Both the buzzard and the bumblebee need to look up to find hope. If the buzzard believed that she could take off and escape even with a shortened runway, she would try it. If the bumblebee looked up, he would see that there was another way to reach his goal. People hemmed in by problems also need to look up. Those who are living in despair because things look hopeless can find a renewed, positive attitude by looking up to Jesus Christ, who encourages you to try what seems impossible because He said all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27). Those who are only succeeding at hurting themselves by fighting hopeless battles can find new possibilities by looking up to God the Father for direction, for He has promised: I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth (Isaiah 42:16).