“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7 (NIV)
Those words were said over my heart as I watched several waves hitting the shoreline on the Gulf coast. I had my feet buried in sand, I could feel the warmth of the sun hitting my body and the only sound I heard were the waves crashing in.
You see, in those brief moments on the shoreline it seemed that all my afflictions came crashing down at once. I truly felt the overwhelming feeling of my misfortunes, my agony and griefs and my distresses in seconds after seeing and hearing the waves. If I remember right, I didn’t want to leave that state. There was something attractive with the grief and overwhelming feeling of being in the deep and the only words to describe it were these four, “deep calls to deep”.
Reading Psalm 42:7 again and listening to bible commentaries, the words “all Your” are used as referencing God’s Sovereignty. It seems the psalmist was giving God credit for his troubles. As defined in an online dictionary, waves are described as “a disturbance on the surface of a liquid body.” When I think of “a disturbance on the surface”, I can’t help but think of troubles that way. Troubles, agonies and misfortunes come and go. Yes, they are disturbing on the surface but those troubles are achieving an eternal glory from deep within. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
If all the waves and breakers are God’s, then He is appointing, sending, dictating and allowing the troubles to come. As I was reflecting on this, it also occurred to me that there were many waves and breakers, repeatedly hitting the shore that day. Some waves were huge and others were small, just enough to get through one wave and then face another.
Oh, there are beautiful word pictures here that I can’t help but see for all of us. In the waves, in the losses, all of it, we are becoming stronger while at the same time given strength to stand along the shoreline as each crashing wave allows our feet to be even more planted in the sand. As the sun shines on our faces, we are given yet another opportunity to reflect the Son.
Again, I don’t know why I didn’t want to leave that moment other than I wanted to feel an intimate and real closeness with God. Troubles do that to us, you know. They make us cling to Him because when “deep calls to deep” we aren’t worried about the surface anymore, we are overwhelmed and consumed with the deep. We don’t know if we can go any deeper, deeper than where we are at that moment.
Psalm 93:4 (NLT) says, “But mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore— the Lord above is mightier than these!”
May our hearts see God’s Hand and Sovereignty in our seasons and allow the deep, the waves, and the breakers to draw and transform us into His image.
As my dad said not too long ago while cleaning my mom’s closet after her passing, “Amy, we‘re just finite...”
Even in the deep, lessons are learned.
From a grateful guest,
A traveler just passing through....
Amy
Song called “Seasons” by Hillsong.
https://youtu.be/mXmZaR0dtsQ