Go Looking for God
When we are worried, we tend to look at everything that worries us. We immerse ourselves in the surmounting to-do lists. We stare at our messy house. We drop a Google search and every symptom points to cancer. We binge-watch the markets to get the doomed forecasts. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is walk outside.
Literally.
That sounds so simplistic, but the Psalmist says in Psalm 121, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”
Sometimes our best move is to go outside and look at the majesty of the mountains. Or sit long enough to see a hummingbird. Drive to the ocean and dip your toes in the sand. Hold a baby and stare at this new arrival fresh from heaven. Go on a hike. The forest with trees three times your age will put things into perspective. Go sit on a park bench and watch the sparrow feed in the grass. Their delicate wings and the provision from which they eat will set you straight. Go walk alongside a beach and be reminded that the God who made all of this, the trees, the birds, the ocean, He also made you, and not only did He make you, but He is mindful of you.
I love that the psalmist in Psalm 8 goes outside and has a collision with God that leaves him less worried and more worshipful, less distracted and more in awe, less self-involved and more reverent. He says:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
It’s not so much that your circumstance changes when you go outside and look at creation. It’s that your perspective changes. Seeing all that God has made, reminds us of God’s power, God’s majesty, God’s provision, God’s beauty, and God’s bigness. And the next thing we know we feel overwhelmed by God’s love and presence more than we feel overwhelmed by our insurmountable to-do lists, our kid worries, and our relationship conflicts. Basking in God’s presence somehow puts everything into perspective.
In all your worry, busyness, and responsibilities this week, my encouragement is to go looking for God. I am pretty sure He is easily found just outside our front door. I will go looking with you. When we collide with Him, we are colliding with our Maker AND our Helper. And sometimes, that’s just what we need.
P.S. If you need some help experiencing God, make sure to check out our amazing bible study book 6 Places to Go Looking for God!
