If you put a buzzard in a 6-foot-by-8-foot pen that’s entirely open at the top, the bird, despite its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. Why? A buzzard always begins flight with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without this runway, it will not even attempt to fly—but will remain a prisoner for life, waddling around in a small jail with an open top.

The common bat is a remarkably nimble night creature in the air, but it cannot take off from a level place. If it’s placed on flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about, helplessly and painfully, until it reaches some slanted ground from which to launch itself.

And a bumblebee, if dropped into an open glass tumbler, will stay there until it dies! 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 continue to seek until it completely destroys itself through exhaustion.

Many people are like the buzzard, the bat and the bumblebee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not ever realizing that the answer for victory and freedom is right there “above” them.

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”