Nature and our emotions: staying focused

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While I appreciate this study's key point ("Nature as a source of health") – the role of nature’s beauty as a comfort and aid to knowing God – my study pushed me to a deeper realization.  I saw that nature’s value was and still can be to draw us deeper into relationship with God.  The Genesis account, along with other instances in Jesus’ earthly life show nature as a beautiful stage or frame to display God’s character, to delight and woo us, and draw us into harmony with his will.

NATURE AND OUR EMOTIONS.  I’ve always been deeply spiritually responsive and open to the natural world and even now, I’m seeing in my mind’s eye the wild vastness of snowcapped peaks, swallowing that solitary, far-off skiier or climber and cliff descents lost in mist, thundering waterfalls… and at the same time the beaded water droplets reflecting the sun’s early light, clinging to a spider’s web, or the languid stillness of the stream beside my canoe…

STAYING FOCUSED.  God is calling to us through it – through the wildness, the vastness - and also the tiny, fragile scenes of beauty; they are saying to us, “how great thou art,” and “what is man that thou art mindful of him?”   I wanted to share my conviction with you, that in our present sinful state, the key is to go beyond nature's stunning scenes as backdrops for our vacations – and find His wooing, drawing message to you.

In one significant interaction Jesus characterized the vastness of far-flung nature as a setting of insecurity, in contrast even to a cozy animal's den – but at the same time, pointing out its value for drawing God’s children into a relationship of dependence and trust.

a certain scribe having come, said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow thee wherever thou mayest go;' and Jesus saith unto him, 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may lay the head.' (Mt 8:20, YLT)

Jesus’ connection to God sustained a lifestyle some might see as homelessness in its rugged, outdoor habits.  Yet, if Christ lived this way, how much more important for us to look beyond this world’s beauties to God’s sustaining power! 

The gospel record of Jesus’ prayer life in Nature also shows its key role in creating spiritual space (Mk 1:35; 6:46-8).  It drew Christ into its solitudes free of distraction and the needs of the multitude...yet again, we see it’s placement as primarily a backdrop for seeking for the truer, more awesome Beauty, the face of God.

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Join Us For the upcoming: "God's will for me: How to Study the Bible"

can faith really cure?

Do believers recognize that "addiction" reflects the experience of sinning? of repeatedly turning away from what God asks?

this week's key study passage in John 8, verses 34-6, points us to Jesus' teaching about sin in a thought-provoking illustration of a house with sin inside it (see the Bible Study Guide).

• Human beings are in the house with Sin, and so is God. Humans are having an experience in the house either being enslaved to sin, or in communion with God.  We see that God is eventually going to clean the house - put sin out. So those that will not take God's freedom, & get free from their relationship with sin, will be put out of the house along with Sin.  

So this key passage shows a couple things, first, that God is capable of coming into our experience with sin and doing something about it - he's in the middle of it and he's interested in intervening.  Second, if we don't do anything to get out of that sin experience - if we won't reach out for help, we will be put out of the house...

So how do we climb out of our experiences of disobedience? of helpless dependence? of enslavement? what is the reality of your salvation experience?  some striking insights from this week:

no more deception - Prov 23:29-35

the reality of obedience at all costs – Mt 5:29-30 & 18:8

the power of influence and temptation – Mt 17:27 & 18:6-7

where humility fits in Jn 8:7 & context

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the Bible and human emotions

This quarter's studies in the Bible have been deceptively straightforward...emotions are being explored against a backdrop of Jesus's own experiences and responses.

Yet -- on reflection, I'm seeing that the discussions many times gloss over the powerful, deeply-held lessons in its key passages.  I began to question: are Jesus' emotional experiences and responses to be interpreted as mirroring our own? and how should we relate Jesus' emotional experiences and responses with those of others in Scripture?


"Jealousy," lesson 10 of the SDA Bible study guide provides profound perspectives on these questions, especially drawing from selected passages Proverbs 27:1-4 and Isaiah 14:12-14.

• Jealousy is not only problematic for our health and relationships, it is identified with the oldest of sins and its evil result for an entire world - the Fall of Man.  There is no way to approach Jesus with this emotion - his Spirit and character didn't come anywhere near this - but what amazing things can we see in his responses to others' jealousy toward Him?
• The impact of Lucifer's jealous betrayal and rebellion echoes throughout Bible prophecy in the timeline of our Earth; it's origin a mystery and its end a certain and terrible destiny.  Have we come before the Lord with any negative seeds that may lie in our hearts? 

May God's Spirit be with you as you study *  Join our Small Group Study Fellowship this weekend