Deep Calls to Deep

“I want to go deeper, Lord, in you” has been the cry of my heart this week. I have been singing those words over and over since Monday. The Lord answered my song by saying, “Deep calls to deep.” My heart leaped. I felt the welcome in those words. I felt His desire to receive me into a deeper fellowship and communion with Him. You might be wondering what my request has to do with you. But really it has everything to do with all of His people. God wants your worship. He created us to worship and praise Him but we have fallen woefully short. We have gotten so comfortable with our tradition and our routine that we are missing wonderful and intimate opportunities to really worship God. He has been talking to us about restoration and today He said it starts in your worship. Are you ready to go deeper?

When the Lord said to me “deep calls to deep”, it led me to Psalm 42. It is the cry of a believer who has been discouraged and is trying to get back to the joy. “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?” My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!” (Ps. 42:1-4) Have you been there? Thirsty for God, wanting more and more of Him but no strength to get there? You know how it is. When your circumstances have overtaken your worship. Finances are shaky, relationships are a struggle, job not meeting your passion, kids all over the place. Or maybe you’ve hit a rough patch in ministry, not feeling it like you usually do, no zeal, no desire...but yet your heart is yearning for God. The enemy hasn’t stopped telling you God doesn’t care and you know what it is to worship because you have been there. What to do? Go deeper…

“My soul, why are you so downcast? Why are you groaning inside me? Hope in God, since I will praise him again for the salvation that comes from his presence. My God, when I feel so downcast, I remind myself of you from the land of Yarden, from the peaks of Hermon, from the hill Mizar. Deep is calling to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls; all your surging rapids and waves are sweeping over me.  By day Adonai commands his grace, and at night his song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.” (Ps. 42: 6-9 CJB) Sometimes you have to remind yourself of who God is to you. Remember how he brought you from point A to point C, when you weren’t even worthy of point B. His love is so deep and so full that it can carry you from the struggle to life. His grace truly is sufficient for you. You see, our circumstances and struggles are surface. We have to go beyond them for the answers and for the joy. We have to press pass what has tried to enslave us and grab hold to the freedom that lies in God. Remember, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17 NKJV) The Holy Spirit lives inside of you so that, in itself, tells you that you must press beyond your physical limitations.

It’s time to go deeper, folks. It’s time to leave the shore of tradition and dive into the intimate realm of worship. In that place, there is renewal and restoration. There is reconnection and revival. In the deep, you can leave the guilt and the shame of your past and find rest. In the deep, you can leave the weight of trying to survive and find freedom. In the deep you can leave the struggle of other people’s expectations and find grace. Don’t be afraid of the deep. It’s the place where God waits to give you revelation and wisdom. It’s calling out to you and waiting to receive you. I can already see the burdens lifting as you sink deeper. May the warmth of the deep waters restore and strengthen you for the journey that lies ahead…AMEN