How to Experience God Outdoors
Justin Camp
3 min read ⭑
Years ago, on Navajo tribal lands, standing on the south rim of Canyon de Chelly, I pondered the question of all questions: What kind of God is God?
Looking out at confounding beauty, I recall thinking, Well, I guess he’s that kind …
You see, we can learn a lot about people by what they make — especially what they make for others. We can grasp the depth of their affection by the effort and care they take in the making and the beauty and utility they infuse into what’s made.
Standing there that day, beholding stunning red rock, steep sandstone cliffs, mystifying stone spires, and the rich, green canyon below, I was overwhelmed by the scale and scope of the love in the heart of the God who made it all.
“Some people, in order to discover God, read a book. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above and below, note, read. God whom you want to discover, did not make the letters with ink; he put in front of your eyes the very things that he made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” —Augustine of Hippo
God’s voice was loud that day — and it wasn’t. It resonated strongly in my being, but my ears heard only the low whisper of a summer breeze. And I knew that I knew. I knew in my heart that he handcrafted those moments in breathless anticipation. That he delivered each one with precision and delight. And that he did it with the singular purpose of giving his son a sense — just a sense — of how much he’s adored.
God is speaking in the mountain peaks, through the rolling hills, among the oaks and aspens and pines, on sandy beaches, over chalky cliffs. He’s speaking his love.
Can you hear him?
Ed Berrevoets; Unsplash
Scripture and tradition beckon us into rich and varied practices that awaken us to God’s presence — things like prayer, worship, community, silence, service and celebration. (👈🏻 We have great primers for these and more on Rapt’s front page.) And, as with any relationship, we build ever closer bonds and deeper intimacy by engaging in not just one but a diversity of social interactions. We come to know a person best by encountering them often and under many circumstances.
I mean, the sense of God I got that day outdoors in Arizona differed from others I’d gotten from other practices. It was visceral. Personal. It helped me understand things I’d long read. It cemented things I’d long heard. It transformed knowledge I’d taken at second- or thirdhand into the firsthand kind. And I’ll carry it with me always, down in my soul. Into every room, into every situation, for the rest of my life.
And there’s a hunger and thirst inside me for more. For more encounters with God’s creation. So, with senses awakened, I’m doing what Augustine suggested. I look above — to notice the brilliance of a lightning strike inside a forty-thousand-foot thunderhead and how the moon looks on a bluebird day in the mountains. And I look below — at how a striped grasshopper stands on orange legs atop a rock in the desert. And I’m deeply grateful for how much energy and care goes into every atom in this world. And I’ve come to appreciate how it’s all meant for us. To move and inspire, to surprise and delight our hearts. And to help us understand more about God’s love.
“He is here. The brilliance of God’s presence and love is shining all around us — every day, in every instant, just waiting to be discovered.”
There are times when you or I might decline an encounter with God. We’ve all experienced seasons of Prodigal rebellion or Jonah-like running or Adam-and-Eve hiding. But the fact that you are reading these words now suggests that you’re eager to come into his presence.
So, let’s do it. Today, let’s open our senses to God’s love in the world around us. Wherever you are, sit quietly for a few minutes and notice the heat, the cold, the breeze, the stillness, the blue or overcast skies, the trees and all the living things.
Then, simply ask yourself, What is God trying to show me here … now? What’s he trying to give me? What is he trying to teach me today? How is he trying to guide me? To love me? Look harder at whatever is right in front of you. Then look again. Look underneath. Look for deeper truth. Strain to hear his voice. Lean in to discern The Creator’s hand.
“Earth’s crammed with Heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
He is here. The brilliance of God’s presence and love is shining all around us — every day, in every instant, just waiting to be discovered. And it “will come alive to us,” wrote Tozer, “the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality.”
Justin Camp is the editor-in-chief of Rapt Interviews. He also created the WiRE for Men devotional and wrote the WiRE Series for Men. His writing has been featured and seen on Charisma, Moody Radio, Focus on the Family, GOD TV, The Christian Post, Crosswalk, Belief.net, LifeWay Men, and other media outlets.