Our God is a Canyon

Very rarely do I see something that leaves me truly awestruck. But recently my family and I got to visit the Grand Canyon, and genuinely, really truly, I was speechless. The moment I walked up to see its vast expanse come into view from behind the trees, I got chills, my heart raced, and I couldn’t say a thing. I had to keep taking deep breaths to be steady. It was amazing and overwhelming, and all the things people who had been there before me have said. Yet I had to see it to truly believe it. Honestly I wasn’t super excited to go. It struck me as a touristy thing that’s probably pretty cool, but I’ve seen some cool things. “It’ll be neat,” I thought. And then I approached it and everything else just melted away...

Later that day we were driving to another spot and just talking as if nothing were unusual. From the road the canyon was just behind a tree line and something struck me. One could be literally just a few yards from the largest, most amazingly beautiful and awe-inspiring canyon in the world, and have no idea. You could easily be upset that you were lost in such a boring forest. What a tragedy it would be if we stumbled upon that forest, but then turned back, or happened to go around, never seeing the immense beauty we were so near.

In many ways, our God is a canyon. We often think of him or want him to be as a mountain, mighty and powerful and looming unmistakably and irrefutably on the horizon. Yet often, though indeed mighty and powerful, He only shows himself to us when we draw near. Sometime he is right next to us but we miss him because we’re not looking, or so focused on our own lives and worries. But he says “Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you.” And only when we draw near, stepping to the edge, do we begin to see the vastness and majesty of our God. Only when we enter in do we truly begin to see the wild rugged beauty of our King.

“Where is God?” Sometimes He is the silence that we can’t hear over the shuffling. He is the canyon that you might miss if you’re not looking. Keep seeking and drawing near until you find the edge. He is there, and a depth incalculable awaits, and invites you to climb down in.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…”

James 4:8