Pastor’s Corner: “Finding God in the Deep”
Psalm 42:7-8 (ESV) – 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
I learned to swim a little later than my friends. I did take swimming lessons at a heated pool around the corner from my house, but I was still not very confident. As a result I often stayed in the shallow end of the pool. One time at a local public swimming pool, I drifted into the deep end, panicked, and lost control. I remember when my feet could not touch bottom and the water began to cover my head. A panic developed in me as I was completely covered by the water. A nearby lifeguard heard my panicked cries and jumped in to guide me back to safety. The moment was overwhelming.
I believe the psalmist felt the same way. As an adult, I see the parallels between my panicked situation and my walk with the Lord. We can tend to stay in a certain comfort level with the Lord and with the feel of our walk with Him. We are content to see God in a certain light and pattern. We can put limitations on God that do not exist because we’re afraid of the moment when we lose control.
To stay in God’s presence is like swimming in the ocean. It is Immense, frightening, powerful, and beautiful – where deep calls to deep. It is where answers don’t come easily and where pain is exposed rather than covered over. It is where healing requires transformation. We live in a world where it is easy to avoid the hard questions, to ignore our own selfishness, to fill our days with busy but meaningless activity. Deep calls out to deep, but sometimes we long to stay in the shallow.
Holy Spirit leads us to places where our comfort level is taken away and where His presence overtakes circumstances. It is a place beyond our understanding, control and ability to comprehend; a destination where tradition and religion cannot lead. The Lord calls us to a state of intimacy—a place of trust where He takes us to a depth that overwhelms our situation. We often put limits on God’s love, mercy, and grace because we are limited in our understanding. The Lord calls us to a place where all limitations of His love are removed and where His grace sweeps over our lives every moment—a place of complete peace, but a place where we have no control. God calls us to a deep relationship beyond our comfort level. DEEP CALLS OUT TO DEEP.
The deep of man’s need calls to the deep of God’s fullness; and the deep of God’s fullness calls to the deep of man’s need. We hit upon the meaning of deep calls to deep when we recognize that human needs are great, but the riches of God are greater. Our wisdom is shallow, but His knowledge and judgments are unsearchable (Romans 11:33–34). God’s thoughts are deep (Psalm 92:5).His love is as deep as His immense heart (Ephesians 3:18–19), as He proved when He gave His only Son to die for us (John 3:16).The height, breadth, and depth of God’s resources are without measure. From the depth of his despair, the psalmist found help in the depth of God’s goodness, and he was able to say in conclusion, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11, NLT).
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton