Into The Deep
What kind of images come to your mind with the words into the deep? Is it something that you are excited to do or are you more apprehensive and reluctant to participate?
There is a bible verse that I’ve heard many times but never really understood until I ventured deeper. It’s found in Psalm 42:7:
“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”
My question was, “What does deep calls to deep mean?”
Psalm 42 was written by King David during the time when he had been driven from his throne by his rebellious son Absalom. David had fled for his life and was living in exile far from the city and temple of God.
The “deep” trials he faced kept coming, wave-like—deep after deep. He longed for his Savior in tears and explained that he had been thirsting for the presence of God like a deer panting for streams of water. David had lost all footing, and he felt as if recurring waves of trouble had plunged his soul into a bottomless ocean of sorrow and despair.
David was expressing the fact that his soul was in deep need of God. David called out from his place of profound need for the unfathomable greatness of God.
We hint 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. The height, breadth, and depth of God’s resources are without measure. Nothing can fully meet the depth of our need but the depth of His Almighty fullness. Deep calls to deep. (GotQuestions.org)
Sometimes the Lord asks us to step out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. It isn’t always comfortable but it is always for a good reason.
When have you grown the most as a believer? When there have been trial and waves in your life. It’s in those deep water moments that we rely on God and trust Him more. It’s also in those deep water experiences that we see our biggest increases.
Just like David, we can find help in the depth of God’s goodness, and be able to say as he did, “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!”
My Prayer
Lord, thank you for answering my question about deep calls to deep. What a blessing to be able to call upon You when the waves are crashing in one after another and know that You are there, You are willing and You are able. Although the stormy seasons are hard, You are stronger and You give us hope and assurance so that we will not be discouraged or sad. You give us a reason to praise You, our Savior and our God! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Where does my hope come from?
Psalm 42
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.