Hunting really means prayer and meditation

I have been in the woods this week.  Wearing blaze orange, but what I am doing probably shouldn’t be called hunting.  I think I would call it prayer and meditation time in the woods, but at the same time I wouldn’t mind harvesting a deer.

I spend a lot of time talking with people, encouraging, counseling, planning and supporting, having time in the woods where it is quiet is a blessing.  I can sit and talk with God about the problems, plans, purposes of life and the situations I find myself in.  It is in this quiet time around dawn and dusk that allows me to speak with God about the things that matter to me and listen for Him to speak to me.

There have been a few times in my life where I was able to drive up to a hunting stand, get in the stand and an hour later drive out with the vehicle full of meat.  I don’t like that kind of hunting, as low impact as it is, it is the waiting that allows me to clear my head and focus on God.  What I truly long for is for God to move in my heart and draw me closer to Him.

So, I take the harder path, I get up earlier, get to the land I am to hunt, put on my gear and walk in.  In the deep night finding the path and walking it can be tough, just ask some of my youth who joined me this year.  The complaints of thorns and buckbrush as we navigated our way into or out of the woods were loud.  Yet when we found the path, it was not always easy, but it was better.

Throughout scripture the call to follow God is evident, many have been called, but few have chosen to be obedient.  In Mark 1:16-18 Jesus calls His first disciples to follow after Him,

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

The call was clear, it was specific and was stated with expectations.  Simon Peter and Andrew left all they had known and followed Jesus.  They took the path they thought they knew and spent their lives pursuing Jesus in all ways from mountaintop experiences to valleys deep with peril following Jesus to their own martyr deaths.

I choose to go into the woods to be with God, I know where the path will lead me and hope that the deer, whose sign is so prevalent, will still be there.  I anticipate God meeting me there and having quiet time to speak with God about my life situations.  At the same time, I know that I must follow Him in every situation.

God calls us to follow Him and leads us through our lives to do the good He has planned for us.  Are we willing to listen to His direction?  Are we willing to do the good He has planned?  Are we able to follow even when the path is dark and there are unknowns?  Perhaps now is the time to talk with God about where you find yourself and ask Him to help you find the next good to do.