There is a fire in my soul when I am in the wild unlike in any other place. In the outdoors, I sense the masculine, wild side of my nature. It is as if the deeper in the wild I go, the closer to the surface this nature is. I have also noticed that as I venture farther from civilization I have a more heightened awareness of the things God built in me, namely his spirit and a love for what he has made. My connection with him seems to go deeper. Its as if the wild in me connects with the wild in him and what he has made.
Experiencing this connection has become a key part of a deep yearning to routinely return to God’s creation. I sense a calling in my soul to get back to the wild and specifically the mountains. The older I get, the stronger this calling has become. It’s as if John Muir’s often-used quote, “… the mountains are calling, and I must go …” is tucked away in my heart and always just under the surface.
Often it is in the wild that God teaches me and speaks to my heart. Many times he does this through the things made. As I stand amid God’s creation, I look around and see his nature and character intertwined into his handiwork. Without the distractions and the hustle and bustle of civilized life, I become more aware of his presence. It is as if he feeds the flame in my soul. The light from that flame reveals things otherwise hidden from my sight.
When this occurs, my heart is filled. And there I stand in awe of my Creator. As I take it all in, I often cannot help but worship him with my heart, mind, and soul. The wild becomes my sanctuary.
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir, The Yosemite, 1912.
The Creator Revealed in the Created
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. – Psalm 19:1-2
… (God’s) invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. – Romans 1:20
There’s a reason why I sense the presence of God in the wild. He communicates through what he has made. His handiwork purposefully reveals things about Him that He wants us to know.
It stands to reason that if God is revealing things about Himself through what He has made we should give attention to these things. We should take note of the world around us and really think about them. Its in creation, that God is pulling back the curtain and showing us things about himself that he feels are important for us to know.
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.” – CS Lewis
Lewis makes a great point. We need to wake up to the fact that God is all around us and yet often goes unnoticed. But if we wake up and are purposeful in looking for him we will see Him.
As John Muir wrote in “My First Summer in the Sierra”:
“Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us, God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever.”
“… opening a thousand windows to show us, God.” This is what God does for me many times when I venture into his wild. Through these thousands of windows, he shows me even more about who he is. With this in mind here are a few examples of my experience in how God reveals himself.
The Power of the God of the Wild
If you’ve ever experienced a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm while in the wild you have experienced power. It can be an awesome thing.
Since I came into a relationship with God I have always loved a good thunderstorm. There are few better than those I’ve experienced in our trips to the Rockies. They always seem to give me insight into the power of God. I think part of the experience is being deep in the mountains in nothing but a tent at best. There is little between you and the storm. You physically feel the power.
But I never fear these storms though I respect them and what they can do. I know their potential and I do my best to stay out of harm’s way. But I know the One behind the storm and He is the master of my soul. I am in His hands. I do not have fear. And so I am free to enjoy the power he puts on display.
I appreciate the wild and powerful side that storms reveal about their Creator. As powerful as storms can be they are insignificant in comparison to the power of God. This is an awesome thought to have while standing there experiencing the violence of the storm.
The God that is so much more powerful than the storm has covered me with his grace and mercy. And I know that I will one day stand face to face with him. But I will not stand on my own merits. I will stand confidently because I will stand on the merits of my King and Lord Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection overcoming death itself has paved the way for me to stand in confidence amid this power. And so, I can rest in the midst of the storm. I am now free to live as a man without fear. I know the God of the wild.
The Majesty of the God of the Wild
To stand at the base of any great mountain produces a sense of awe that is hard to describe. I always feel so small while the mountains feel so massive and majestic. I am such a small part of this world. You cannot help but feel small here in the shadow of a great, majestic mountain. But then I think about how even it is small in comparison to all that God has made. I ask myself the question, how majestic must he be if he created these great and mighty things?
Its at this time I begin to understand David’s words when he wrote:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. … When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? – Psalm 8
Think about that. The majestic and mighty God of the universe is mindful of and cares for men like you and me. That can be an overwhelming thought. And yet he has demonstrated this in sending and sacrificing his only son to pave the way so he could relate to men like us. And it is in that relationship where we find purpose, strength,and fearlessness for today and for eternity. In the mercy of the majestic God of the wild.
The Attention and Care of the God of the Wild
In my latest trip to the Rocky Mountains, we set up camp in a grove of rocks in the midst of a field. The pictures above are the different types of wildflowers that resided there. The variety and beauty of these were amazing. It prompted me to take these pictures. The flowers of that field were varied and distributed in such a way that it looked as if they had been planted there by a gardener. And yet this was deep in the midst of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The only gardener that planted these flowers was THE Gardener! It was then that the following came to mind:
Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
I realized that in the flowers that grew here year after year God was revealing his attention and care for what he had made. In the field, he is giving us an example to understand his attention and care. He wants us to understand that he has our back in the midst of the difficulties of life. The context and topic of this passage is worry and we are being told to not worry but rather trust God with our lives.
So think about how God cares for this field in the Rocky Mountains. Eventually, in the end of time this field will be burned up with the rest of this world. But the souls of men will live on forever. Not only this but man is the part of God’s creation that is made in his image. We are of much more value to God.
His care and attention will go far beyond what we see in the wildflowers. And so the wildflowers remind me that I can rest in the Creator that cares and attends for his own.
The Fearlessness and Boldness of the God of the Wild
While in Montana I had the opportunity to observe several big horn sheep. These are simply amazing animals. They climb and stand on the edge of rock cliffs without a care in the world. I watched with awe as they jumped and navigated down the side of a rock cliff to get to some shrubs to eat. To my eye there was no footing for them to travel and it looked to be nothing more than a flat wall of rock. And yet they somehow stuck to the stone wall like velcro.
One slip and these animals would have fallen to the base many feet below. But to them, this was what they were made to do. It was no issue. They were bold and fearless. Occasionally they would slip slightly and slide for a few feet only to catch themselves and then continue their journey.
I really had a hard time comprehending what my eyes were seeing. It just did not seem like an animal of that size should be able to do what I was watching them do. The chances these guys would take for a few bites of food was mind-blowing.
The bighorn sheep are surefooted animals built to be bold and fearless in the face of dropping to their deaths. I think about how they have a Creator that made them this way. He put this in them. They appeared to have no fear in what seemed to me to be the direst of circumstances.
This makes me mindful of how the same Creator that displays his fearlessness and boldness in the animals offers the same to men like us. We read that he actually puts this within us when we come to faith in him.
… God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control … – 2 Timothy 1:7
The spirit he gives us as part of turning to him in faith is a spirit that is void of fear and is instead powerful and bold. It is not timid. Our calling as men of faith is one of boldness. Fear is a surefire way to know we are not operating as designed but are instead operating in a faithless manner.
If you closely read the words of Jesus you will see him saying, do not fear but have faith. (i.e. Mark 5:36, Luke 8:50) So we are either operating in one or the other. We are either full of fear or full of faith. And faith is built on the words God has said. Below is one of my favorites.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10
Our calling, our modus operandi needs to be fearless and bold living like our Creator. He is our strength, our help, and our power. We need to walk in the fearlessness and boldness of the God of the wild.
The God of the Wild Awaits You
“When a man, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, he will learn also to reflect upon and to admire his wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest plants.” – John Calvin
God is calling out to us in the created. He is on display and waiting for you and for me to “behold” and “contemplate” and acknowledge him as Creator. When the light comes on you will be amazed at the many things he reveals about himself. You will see the power, majesty, attention, care, fearlessness and boldness of the God of the wild. And you will be overwhelmed that the God behind it all wants to be known by you.
How unfortunate it is that we have created so many barriers between us and the God who reveals himself through what he has created. Too often in this modern world men go through their entire lives without beholding and contemplating the world around them.
Yet I cannot get away from the idea that building this experience into lives would improve them in dramatic ways. Without venturing into the wild growth in our relationship with our Creator will be stunted in some ways. We will miss out on observing, valuing, and attempting to understand the many lessons that are waiting for us to embrace. He desires to show them to the prize of his creation, mankind.
I hope you break away from the brick and mortar world and venture into the wild. I hope your perspective of the world around you is never the same. I hope you experience the unmatched feeling of standing atop a mountain taking in scenery that no photographer, no painter will ever be able to fully capture.
So, what are you waiting for? Answer the call and go! Watch, listen, and learn about the God of the wild and learn about the wild in you!
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).
As always I appreciate your visit to Men of Grit!
In your corner,
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
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