Nature And Worship Series

over the Grand Canyon. At other times it takes effort to see how nature glorifies God. Isa.

6:3 says, "The whole earth is full of His glory." But you have to look harder some places to

see it. Take the wilderness for example:

THE WILDERNESS.

As I drove for hours seeing nothing but wilderness and desert sage, which amazed me with

its ability to survive in such a place, I wondered over and over again what good is all this

wasteland? It seemed so worthless, and I wondered why God made so much of it. As we saw a

ranch off in the distance from time to time we could not help but feel sorry for the people who

have to live in such isolation from the world. Some had their large TV dishes, and so we knew

they could lighten up their solitude with the blare and glare of civilization, but many had no

TV, and when we turned on the radio we found places with no stations at all, and many with

only one. The very thought of living in such isolation was a burden to us.

Then, when I read the Scripture I was reminded that these people had the potential of

developing very Christlike qualities by living there. John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said that

he was the greatest born of woman, lived in the wilderness. Jesus also often went into desolate

places to pray and be alone with His heavenly Father. Luke 5:16 says, "And He withdrew

Himself into the wilderness and prayed." Luke 6:12 says, "..He went out into a mountain to

pray..." Mark 1:35 says, "..rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into

a solitary place and there prayed."

David Douglas in Christianity Today says he can identify with this, for in Santa Fe, New

Mexico he is ever near the wilderness, and he says it motivates one to pray, for the solitude

and the wonder of nature dominate the mind. It makes one feel alone with the Creator of it

all. He says the vast wilderness makes one feel totally inadequate. Pride vanishing and one is

filled with a sense of dependence upon God. I've only sipped at this cup from which he has

drunk deeply, but I can, after seeing the wilderness, believe what he says is true. God does

not speak to us more clearly in the wilderness, but we are more likely to listen there. That is

the problem, that we are too busy, too preoccupied, too distracted by all the realities of life to

listen to the Creator of all that really matters.

Being alone in the wilderness of God's creation makes us listen, and thus, makes us pray,

and thus, it is a major aid to worship. Douglas writes, "On hiking trips I have taken alone,

often into the desert canyons of the Southwest, prayer has become a virtual companion. I

have walked for miles passed cliffs of burgundy sandstone, the walls suspended like five

hundred foot-high tapestries embroidered by waterfalls, and come across no one for days. I

have found myself praying on scores of occasions in that solitude, prayers of petition for my

continued well being, prayers of thanks for my sight and mobility. Normally merely dutiful