Just Look Up

I love to watch birds that visit my garden. The other day I bought some bird seed that is compacted together in the shape of a bell - one you could hang in a tree or a specific spot in your garden. As it is currently winter where I live, I reckoned that food is possibly not as freely available to the little birds as in other seasons, and therefore they would quickly find and devour this little food treasure in the garden.

However, to my great surprise, the birds didn’t even notice the seed bell that I hung near our pool area. As I’ve seen them do many mornings, the birds would come and peck around on the ground, looking for anything significant to eat, but none of them would look up and see the seed bell hanging directly above them. So, one morning I decided to crumble off on to the ground some seeds from the seed bell. This way, so I reasoned, they may catch the hint that the seeds should be coming from somewhere directly above them. But alas, still no joy!

I haven’t decided what to do about the seed bell yet, but this whole experience made me realise how ignorant we may sometimes be of what we have available in God. He has given us ‘all things that pertain to life and godliness’ (2 Peter 1:3). And yet, like these birds, we can be ignorant of the wonderful truth that He’s our Source. How many times we look for comfort or answers to our life’s challenges in the wrong places! We may look to others to affirm our worth; we may look to the bank manager to help us out of a financial fix; we may look to our careers to give us a sense of purpose; we may look to some chemical substance, food, social media, or a friend to comfort us when we feel stressed or anxious. And all the while, our heavenly Father is the One who already knows best what we need to meet our specific needs. He’s always with us, available every moment of the day, and looking to show Himself strong on our behalf (see 2 Chronicles 16:9).

Perhaps, just like the birds, we need to understand that we need to look up and see Him – our Provider and Comforter, the One who loves us perfectly, ‘our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1).

Prayer: Lord, I know that You know me best, and that You love me perfectly. I want to learn to look up – to look to You - before I begin to look around me for ways to meet the needs I have. Thank You that You are a very present help in every situation I may find myself. Amen.