MATTHEW SMEAL, of Baptist World Aid Australia, writes that one of the best places to connect with God is in nature in this excerpt from Baptist World Aid Australia’s new devotional, ‘The Earth is the Lord’s!’…
Admiring the beauty of creation – Ciucas Peak in Romania. PICTURE: David Marcu/Unsplash.
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” – Genesis 3:8
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” – Luke 5:16
The idea of God strolling in the Garden of Eden is a beautiful thought. That the God of all creation would come down to Earth to spend time amongst his creation is captivating. But perhaps the idea shouldn’t be too startling.
We know from Genesis 1:31 that once God had finished creating the earth, He “saw all that He had made, and it was very good”. We also know that God created humankind in His own likeness and in that of the heavenly beings (Genesis 1:26). It should be no surprise then that the God of Heaven and Earth would enjoy doing what we do: “walking in the garden in the cool of the day”.
“Going hand-in-hand with nature is solitude. Christians often use the term quiet time: it is a time to sit quietly, to read the Bible, to meditate, to reflect, to pray. The quiet time is a time to be still and quiet before God, a time to be alone – with Him. One of the best places to do that is in God’s creation, in nature, surrounded by his majesty, and not by distractions.”
Going hand-in-hand with nature is solitude. Christians often use the term quiet time: it is a time to sit quietly, to read the Bible, to meditate, to reflect, to pray. The quiet time is a time to be still and quiet before God, a time to be alone – with Him.
One of the best places to do that is in God’s creation, in nature, surrounded by his majesty, and not by distractions.
Time alone in nature, communing with God, is an example that Jesus himself set. Just looking through Luke’s Gospel, we see several examples:
• Luke 4:42 – “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place.”
• Luke 5:16 – “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
• Luke 9:18 – “Once when Jesus was praying in private…”
• Luke 21:37 – “Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives…”
• Luke 22:41 – [having gone again to the Mount of Olives] “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them.”
Between those passages are times of great activity in Jesus’ life. These include being tempted in the wilderness and being rejected in Nazareth, calling the first disciples and sending them out, calming a storm, healing the sick, teaching the crowds – and entering Jerusalem. He even went to a mountain with two disciples and joined two of God’s prophets there. We know it as the Mount of Transfiguration.
In other words, we see a pattern in Jesus’ life where he would engage, then withdraw; engage, then withdraw. Jesus’ time in solitude, in nature, was his time to be with his Heavenly Father, to prepare, and to recharge.
The same is true for us.
Writer and theologian Henri Nouwen wrote, ‘When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we are.’ Being dependent on God is a good thing. We all know that when we try to go it alone, we make a mess of things. Instead, Proverbs 3:5 tells us to ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding’.
Seeking God in the quiet places, in his creation and taking in the beauty of a sunset or the ocean colours, is a crucial part of our relationship with him. Surely that’s what the psalmist meant when he wrote in Psalm 46:10 to, ‘Be still and know that I am God’.
This is an excerpt from Baptist World Aid Australia’s new devotional, ‘The Earth is the Lord’s!’ which can be downloaded for free.
