If you put a buzzard in a fenced yard six or eight feet square, the bird will be trapped, in spite of his ability to fly. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten to twelve feet. Without the space for a running start, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small enclosure with no roof. Bats cannot take off from a level place. When put on the floor or flat ground, all a bat can do is shuffle about, awkward and helpless, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. If a bumblebee is dropped into an open container, it will stay there. It never notices it can escape out the top, but continues to try to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
Are we like the buzzard, the bat, or the bee, struggling with all our problems and frustrations, not realizing, like the bumblebee, that the answer is right there above us? We also need to look up for our deliverance. The Psalmist describes our predicament: “For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.”
As long as we are unable to look up, we are a prisoner, unable to escape. When all we focus on are our problems, they seem overwhelming, and we feel frustrated, full of despair. When we look up, we can see a way out of our dilemma.
Some people and animals never look up. When the Psalmist said he was not able to look up, his heart failed him. When he took his problems to the Lord in prayer and looked up he found deliverance. “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, 0 LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” We also can find help if we look up to the Lord in prayer for help.
When Elisha woke up one morning in Dothan, the whole city was surrounded by Syrian soldiers. His servant panicked and said, “Alas, my master! How shall we do?” “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha prayed, “0 LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Now all those angels who were there to protect Elisha are still alive today, not one of them has died. We cannot see them, but they are there just the same. We are told that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about those who fear Him. We need to open our spiritual eyes, so to speak, to look up and see in faith that those who are with us are more than those who are with our enemies.
Abraham Lincoln has been quoted as saying, “I can understand why a man might look down at the ground and say there is no God, but I cannot conceive how a man can look up into the starry heavens and deny the existence of an Almighty Creator.”
Looking up should fill us with awe and wonder, make us realize our smallness and insignificance, and open our eyes to the infinite power and wisdom of our God who has created us and is shaping us and our world for a glorious future.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has told us where to look. He said, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
We cannot see the angels who are encamping around about us, but we do see the signs Jesus told us to look for. We live in perilous times when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and so we should be looking up, for “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One