3 minute read
GRACE & TRUTH
BY PASTOR WEBB
Finding refuge in silence and solitude
The sun warming the back of my neck with my head laid on the window of my dad’s truck. I think back to when I was a kid, and those were the best naps. Remembering how I used to sleep, I would have a kink in my back for days if I were to nap like that again!
I used to love riding my 4-wheeler in the woods, stopping in the middle of nowhere to sit and think.
There is something healing, restoring, about seeing all the “life” that is living without anyone making it happen. There are no computer programs keeping spider webs stretching through the trees. No app replenishes the river with fish. We don’t have to text anyone to make the grass grow.
The world grows and goes without a single demand. Our worlds have become so automated and designed and structured and busy and tiring. There is something about walking outside for just a few moments that brings refreshment.
When Jesus got overwhelmed, he removed himself. He didn’t take a nap or play a video game. He walked up into a mountain.
The mountains of the Galilee area still to this day are a refuge of silence and solitude. Sure, there are more cities today than in Jesus’ day, and still, along those hills, there is plenty of room to spread out and think. Jesus would walk up those hills of grass and stare across the majestic Galilee. In the distance, he saw the snow-covered Mt. Hermon and fishers sailing or cleaning their nets.
Even from the mountain, he could still see the intensity of human interaction. But only in the distance. Sometimes being alone outside or walking with someone else is so healing.
It was even for Jesus.
How many stories do we see in the Word of God where people are restored after taking time in nature? Elijah was scared to death of Jezebel just moments after the incredible victory on Mt. Carmel. He runs deep into the wilderness to hide, and there God finds him, gives him rest and builds him back up.
When Jesus died, and John and Peter’s hopes are dashed, we find them fishing. They always found such comfort out on the sea, in the sun, working together.
Jacob heard from God while he was sleeping with his head on a rock. Moses spoke to God in the wilderness, looking at a bush that caught fire. David learned of God’s faithfulness among the sheep in pastures along the side of Bethlehem.
The angels announced Jesus’ coming to people working outside. I mean, even God preferred the Tabernacle to a Temple. Even God wants to be more evident outside rather than inside our walls.
Maybe, the key to becoming unhinged from our stressful life is unplugging ourselves and being re-energized by the source of physical energy, the sun, and reconnected by the source of true life, the son of God.
Okay, I don’t mean to be cheesy, but what if the answer to most problems is leaving them alone to see the life that happens without our working toward it. The sparrows are fed, and the fields are dressed beautifully whether we help or not. Mountains, seas, animals, and the sky are governed by something greater than us.
So, go see something beautiful. I bet there is more beauty in your backyard than on your phone. Go and see for yourself.
Pastor Emanuel Webb Hoggard is Pastor at Askewville Assembly of God. He can be reached via email at pastorwebb@hotmail.com.
