Is it easier to find God in Nature?

[TennesseeLinda]

Winter is hard on me. I love gardening and grass mowing and tending to the animals. In the Winter there is not much to do outside. As I sat here this morning, looking over the field out front, the chickens and guinea chasing each other, I began thinking about the difference in my reaction to being in the city vs. country.

I realized how much closer to God I feel when I am digging up the soil or just being alone outside compared to the years of being stuck in an office building and living in neighborhoods filled with people.

That got me to thinking about why people vacation in Nature. Most people want to go to the sea or the mountains for vacation. Why? Jesus would leave the multitudes and go to a garden or out on the sea to pray. Is there a "draw" in our souls, even those not saved, to experience this closeness to God.

Is there more sin in the industrial areas? Or in housing projects where people are crammed in like chickens in a chicken factory?
Is it easier for farmers to experience God?

Just wondering.......

[Lou Newton]

Winter is hard on me. I love gardening and grass mowing and tending to the animals. In the Winter there is not much to do outside. As I sat here this morning, looking over the field out front, the chickens and guinea chasing each other, I began thinking about the difference in my reaction to being in the city vs. country.

I realized how much closer to God I feel when I am digging up the soil or just being alone outside compared to the years of being stuck in an office building and living in neighborhoods filled with people.

That got me to thinking about why people vacation in Nature. Most people want to go to the sea or the mountains for vacation. Why? Jesus would leave the multitudes and go to a garden or out on the sea to pray. Is there a "draw" in our souls, even those not saved, to experience this closeness to God.

Is there more sin in the industrial areas? Or in housing projects where people are crammed in like chickens in a chicken factory?
Is it easier for farmers to experience God?

Just wondering.......

Hi Linda,

I was encouraged to see your thread this morning.

Here is a passage of scripture to back up your thoughts about nature:

Isaiah 1 NIV 1984

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. 5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness-- only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. 8 The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; 16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her-- but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them. 24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. 26 I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City." 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish. 29 "You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen. 30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. 31 The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."

Why does The Lord start this chapter out with Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!.

The Lord is perfect in all of His ways and does nothing without a reason.

The Lord does nothing that is not important. Everything single thing He does or says is very important.

So why -Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!.

Let's look first at the rest of the chapter to see why.

"I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

God goes on the show us how he had done everything for Israel as a Father would for His children. He brought them out of slavery and gave them a land overflowing with good things for them. He took this land from others who had rebelled from Him and gave it to them.

He gave them His laws so they would not stray from Him. But the whole chapter is filled with how they have rebelled from the very one who did all this for them.

Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. 6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. 9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day

Look at the difference here. God spoke and His creation obeyed. Not only that, but has not rebelled all down through the ages. The sun has produced light ever since that day. The sun, moon, and the stars have governed the night and day ever since then. The stars have been signs to man just as God commanded them at the very beginning.

Way back when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning when all matter and all energy came out from the Big Bang, every small part of matter and energy has obeyed His exact command. This is proven by the stars declaring His glory not very long ago by declaring the fact that God would become a man and be born of a virgin to shed his blood for our sin.

Think of how obedient every thing in the whole universe has been ( except for man ) right from the very beginning right up to the present moment.

If one small part of that universe would have rebelled the whole theater of their display would have been ruined.

It seems that the very beginning was billions of years ago, yet for all these billions of years every single part has obeyed God.

That is why God said, Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!.

He wanted to speak to something that heard Him and obeyed.

He was weary of speaking to men that do not even listen to Him, yet obey Him.

3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand

We see that the ox and the donkey know where to get their food. They know that the one who feeds them is their master.

But God provides everything that man needs for life and yet they mock His very existence.

Romans 3
No One Is Righteous
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better ? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Everywhere man is or even has been shows his rebellion to God.

That is why we like to look out at the stars of heaven. For they have obeyed God from the every beginning right up to this present day. So instead of the war of rebellion, we see peace. The whole creation ( except for man) is at peace with God.

We do not have to fear some rogue asteroid hitting the earth and destroying the earth in disobedience to God. For certainly the creation has been proven to obey Him.

NOTE: it is one of the marks of a false prophet to cause us to fear the heavens, that God created and that obeys Him. There is no rogue planet or rogue comet. The whole creation obeys God except for man.

When we look at the heavens in the night or the day we see peace. The wind and the waves obey Him.

We like leaving the city behind and going to the ocean to see the sea obey Him. Sorry. To see the wind and waves obey Him.

We like to go anywhere that is away from man. We do not go out to old abandoned strip mines where there are no men, but they have left their mark on God's creation.

We like to find places where the creation is left to itself and see the peace that takes place when the creation obeys it's Creator.

Grace to you
Lou Newton

[Steve Hollander]

"We like to find places where the creation is left to itself and see the peace that takes place when the creation obeys it's Creator."

Amen Lou. I spend countless hours trying to make my property more woods and natural looking for stress relief. ..... Steve

[Baruch]

Wow! This blessed me!! Our prayer are promptly answered.

Thank you Linda, Lou, and Steve. Bless you.

[TennesseeLinda]

Thanks Lou,

Dan hurt his back this morning (a re-occurring thing), so I had a captive audience. I read your thoughts and the bible passages to him. Wow! Has America gotten just like the passage you shared. I have read it before, but putting it into context, how God must see America seems to be spelled out here. No wonder we are getting the government we deserve.