The Call of the Deep

The Call of the Deep
GO DEEP!
Terry R. Baughman

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me—A prayer to the God of my life” (Psalms 42:7-8 NKJ).

God's desire for relationship with humanity brings His active involvement and presence into our lives. Likewise God has instilled within us a longing for connection to the spiritual. So much so, there is a natural void in our souls when we have no relationship with him.

The psalmist revealed there was a deep need within, a longing for the presence of God, in our hearts. In the same text from The Passion Translation, He said, “My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love. Your waterfall of weeping sent waves of sorrow over my soul, carrying me away, cascading over me like a thundering cataract” (Psalm 42:7 TPT).

This reciprocal longing for connection with the Almighty, led God to create everything that we see. He took personal attention to the creation of the first man and woman (Adam and Eve), with the intention that He might have someone with which to communicate and to enjoy time together. It is apparent from the text of Genesis that God walked with them, communicating with them in their evening walks. After the first sin, when their eyes were open to their nakedness, they hid from the face of God, and were shamed by the purity of His voice. Relationship was broken and trust was destroyed. 

Though these first humans were separated from this sacred scene they had once enjoyed, there remained the deep desire for communion with God. Blaise Pascal, a philosopher and theologian, observed that man, “tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself” (Pensees, by Blaise Pascal). This thought has often been quoted as the “God-shaped hole within the heart.”

Search where we may, there is nothing on earth that can adequately fill the longing for God, but God Himself. There is no relationship on earth that can replace the spiritual communion we can have in His Spirit. God created us for relationship and we can enjoy many relationships with others, but none will take the place of the One who is the “infinite and immutable.”

Christ’s answer for the aching separation of sin was the provision of a sacrifice. In the Garden, a lamb was slain to provide clothing for the outcasts from the paradise of God. God clothed them and covered them with the skins and wool of the sacrifice. A principle was established and blood sacrifices were offered in abundance throughout the Old Testament, and the wrath of God was appeased by the atoning blood of the lamb. 

All this blood, all these sacrifices, provided atonement year after year as sins were pushed ahead in the anticipation of a perfect lamb in the fulness of time. John the Baptist saw the fulfillment of the promise when He proclaimed Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NKJ). Looking back at Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, Peter stated that we were redeemed, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19 NKJ). Jesus provided the atonement that saves us from our sins, but also restores a relationship with God! 

Paul wrote, “Look at you now! Everything is new! Although you were once distant and far away from God, now you have been brought delightfully close to him through the sacred blood of Jesus—you have actually been united to Christ! Our reconciling “Peace” is Jesus!” (Ephesians 2:13-14 TPT). We can daily celebrate our reconciliation. Constantly, we can rejoice in the restoration of our relationship. Join the singers of Korah’s clan and continue the chorus, “All through the day Yahweh has commanded his endless love to pour over me. Through the night I sing his songs and my praises to the living God” (Psalm 42:8 TPT). The deep calls us still. 
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Theme passage:
“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life” (Ephesians 3:17 TPT).