A Slice of Life: BUZZARD, BAT & BUMBLE BEE"

In this life there are intelligent people and there are wise people and the two are quite different. Knowledge we gain from our education but wisdom must be imparted by God. In my lifetime I’ve known some really smart people who really fell short on the wisdom scale. Proverbs 2:6 says For the Lord gives Wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. Knowledge without wisdom is a dangerous thing.

I read that if you put a Buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a Buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

Also the ordinary Bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, can not take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A Bumble Bee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways, we are like the Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumble Bee. We struggle with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that the answer is so simple. The Bible tells us in James that we have not, because we ask not. In First John 5:14 we are told: And this is the confidence that we have in him that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. The last part of that is really important, because sometimes we ask for things that are outside of His will. He being a loving Father will not give us that which will hurt us and sometimes we can not see the danger in what we want.
My youngest granddaughter was fascinated with scissors when she was very small. She was drawn to them like a magnet. She did not see the hidden danger in the shinny things that could cut paper, and once a big swatch of her hair. She was sneaky and got them sometimes when no one was looking. It was a constant battle protecting her from the danger that she could not see in this amazing object. She called them no-no’s because every time her little hand reached for them, someone said, NO-NO. Our Father in heaven knows when we make a request of Him if it will turn out to be a no-no. Like that song, I Thank God for Unanswered Prayer. Be thankful what ever the answer to your prayer, because God makes no mistakes.
Recently I watched a TV special on the effects of prayer. Studies, they found, proved that prayer actually works. I already knew that. I’ve seen prayer work in my life so many times. We don’t go to our Heavenly Father as we should. You know how when you've done something for your kids or grandchildren and they just don’t seem to appreciate it, the indifference really hurts. It must be the same way for our Father in heaven. He gives and gives and yet so often we only go to Him when things get all messed up and we are desperate. We should wake up with thoughts of praise, we should thank Him during the day and when we place our heads on our pillows at night, our last thoughts should be filled with praise. We are told that God inhabits the praises of His people in Psalm 22:3, isn't that amazing! To use my favorite son-in-laws favorite word, it is awesome, when you are praising God He is right there with you, inhabiting those praises. You can not be closer to the Master than when you are praising Him.