The Outdoors

The Outdoors are unique in the Worship Styles because the created universe is actually also part of God’s general revelation. In other words, every human has a special connection to nature because God purposed it to reflect his glory. The Bible explains, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Rom 1:20 NIV). In theological language, nature and reason are considered parts of God’s general revelation. That is, God has revealed Himself to the general public so that all people may come to sense and know him. Then there are ways that God has revealed Himself to us more directly, called special revelation. For example, the Bible tells us special stories that reveal his will and his characteristics. His spirit also helps us directly, comforts us, gives us peace, and convicts us of sin. This is special revelation. So the outdoors are not only a special way for some of us to feel His presence, but also a general revelation of how God has revealed Himself to us.

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At the same time, there are people who love being at the top of a mountain because they can look out at the horizon of layered hills, innumerable trees, distant snow tops, valleys, and in this moment they feel so weak in comparison to the earth. Yet, in a rather mysterious feeling, they feel greater than nature, or at least more important. They ponder the thousands of years that those mountains have been sitting there, seemingly with no one else having ever ventured its peaks. It is as if those mountains had been created, thousands of years in the making, all for that one moment that someone had at the top of it as she simply stares at them and feels the winds of a thousand miles reach her face. She probably does not mind if she had a companion to enjoy the moment, but it is not totally necessary. It is just her and God up there. The mountains are enough by themselves. At this moment, she feels God’s whispers of presence. She closes her eyes and concentrates on what she can hear. The sound of the wind in her ear. A constant, faint sound of the trees in the valley brushing from the wind. The faint bird’s call echoing between the hills. Her breathing. She thinks, “I made it. This is why I am doing everything else that I am doing. With no one else around me, it’s just God and me.” Now of course God has always been near her in one sense. Yet in another sense, she feels Him in a whole new way each and every time up she makes it to the top of that summit.

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“

Where I can go from your Spirit,

or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, there you are,

and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.

If I lift up the wings of the dawn,

and I alight on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand would lead me,

and your right hand would hold me fast.

And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,

and the light around me will be as night,”

even the darkness is not too dark for you,

and the night shines as the day—

the darkness and the light are alike for you.

Indeed you created my inward parts;

you wove me in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works,

and my soul knows it well...

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

And see if there is in me the worship of false gods,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

(Psalm 139:7-14, 23-24 LEB)

 

She is totally satisfied in God this day, experiencing that he is equally powerful, present, and loving. She feels his presence. She’s rejuvenated to continue in the mission God has for her.