There was an ancient South American tribe that flourished from 100 BC to 800 AD beside the arid southern coast of Peru. They were called the Nasca and they left behind one of the strangest mysteries of ancient times. Nearly two thousand years after the Nazca’s lived, an air plane was flying over Peru and the pilot looked down and saw a drawing of a monkey that was kilometres long . The lines of the drawing were clearly scraped into the earth, yet down on the ground the drawings couldn’t really be seen – the lines just looked like gashes in the ground or old roads and trails. However from the air these lines formed pictures. Soon over 300 pictures were discovered, such as a spider, hummingbird, spirals, flowers and a pelican. Because of the low rainfall in the region where the drawings were made the Nasca lines had lasted for thousand of years.
The best guess at how these drawings were made is that the Nasca were either brilliant mathematicians and able to calculate out how long each line should be, where it should intersect and where each line should turn, or that the artists used the position of the stars to help them map out their drawings.
However what impresses me about the Nasca drawings is that these enormous pictures and lines upon the earth had largely gone unnoticed or appreciated from those on the ground for years. In actual fact many of these ancient reminders of the past had been damaged when cars had driven on them, people’s feet had scuffed them and highways were built over top of them. From the ground they’d been missed for their significance, artistry and ingenuity. It took someone flying from a height, up above the everyday activities on earth, seeing with a clear view and perspective to recognise what had been there all along.
How similar we can be in our approach to life. We miss so much because we look and discern life from an earthly vantage point, buffeted about by the latest news, new thought or great revelation and the opinion of the loudest voices, when we can in fact see and hear from a much higher place. Because just like the Nasca drawings, how different things look when we really see what is there and what is unfolding before us. It changes our whole perspective, mindset and understanding of situations.
God has put his intentions and plan clearly in His Word and all of creation talks about his goodness and the story that He is unfolding. It’s just that when we remain always on the ground – in the trenches so to speak with no higher view, we end up believing that what we are seeing and experiencing down here is the only reality, when in actual fact in God there is always a higher reality and plan unfolding. It’s why God says “come up here, give all your burdens to me and set your mind on heavenly things. That we are invited to come to “Mt Zion” and to step in and up above the world to see and hear from heaven.” (Matthew 11:28-30; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 12:22-23)
Today with all that is going on around us and the noise, chaos and attempts to drown out anything that God is saying and has always said, I encourage you to “Go up”. Take a heavenly view and see with God’s wisdom and perspective what is going on, and then release heaven on earth. The air is clear up there and there is definitely no fear!
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead…For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-6 NLT)
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
“Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1 NIV)
Prayer: Lord thank you for the ability to ascend into heavenly places and to see and hear what you are saying and doing. Please help me to disconnect from the things that would try to drag me back down so that I “come up” and see what you see and be part of what you are doing. In Jesus name Amen.
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