Think about this: before there were cities, it was just God and man, side by side, working the land, raising families, and creating community. Man was intimately connected to God’s creation for survival. However, with the development of the urban concrete jungle, we have progressively distanced ourselves from God’s world and become immersed in man’s. We don’t see God as the source of our water, food, and shelter; rather we see the local grocery store and mortgage company fulfilling those roles. God’s abundance now comes prepackaged and distributed by middle mankind, and we end up losing sight of its source; we surrender the allegiance we formerly had to God and put our trust in the bounty of Costco.

Maybe some of our human unhappiness is based on the fact we have distanced ourselves from the intimacy we used to experience in God’s created order. The cities, the population centers, are more liberal and secular, while the rural Midwest and South, where survival is based on an intimate reliance on the land, form the Bible belt. The farmer meets God every day in the soil of his wheat fields, while the Wall Street broker may not see, let alone touch, dirt for months. The farmer awakens early to offer prayers to the great provider, while the Wall Street broker awakens early and offers prayers to man’s electronic ingenuity.

We live in housing developments that pay homage to the architectural monuments of man’s cleverness but neglect God’s concealed creative order on which they were built. As my friend John pointed out, when we move to the country and are surrounded by nothing but nature, we can’t help but reflect on God’s power, but when we move to the city and are surrounded by the creative work of humans, we can’t help but try to place man on the throne. I’m not advocating the overthrow of our social order or the demonization of Wall Street brokers; I’m offering this illustration as a concept to ponder to help us reprioritize the way we think about the world.

Ask yourself why New York, the financial hub of the United States with all its high rises and concrete, needs its Central Park? Why waste strategic land on squirrels and pigeons? Why not make more room for the monuments to man? The reason is simple. In the end, we know if we are cut off from nature, we are cut off from the last spiritual sanctuary left in this chaotic world. Central Park is the last vestige of Eden strategically placed in the center of the city where people can have a divine encounter with their first love. Life can be hard and we often feel as if we are running on fumes, but nature allows us to refuel our tanks with the high-octane Spirit of the living God.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12: 7-10)