Summertime. It’s that time of year again with long-awaited vacations and needed getaways. A trip to the beach is on many people’s radar. I love the second day of a trip to the shore. The travel day is over, the groceries are bought and put away and the suitcases are emptied out. A full week of relaxation is ahead and the end of vacation is a million miles away. There is nothing better than to stake the perfect spot on the beach and settle in with a good book and a deep breath and my sinking toes in the sand.

In a spiritual sense we look forward to those times of rest and refreshment as well. Unfortunately we can get much too comfortable on the beach and never dare to stick our toes in the water. Sometimes we see ourselves as brave and dive right in yet when we come up for air we still find ourselves treading water in a place where, if we stop, we can still feel the safety of the sand under our feet. I have found myself many times in God’s spiritual waters paddling along with the shore behind me only to realize that I stall when I get in over my head.

The author of Psalm 42 writes of deep lament. He is searching for God as a deer pants for water. He speaks of his tears being his food day and night. The words are a deep lament and aching to a silent God. In verse 7 we find these words: (NIV) “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Many of you have probably heard the phrase within that verse, deep calls to deep. I love those words and I let them roll around inside of me as I might let cool stones roll around in my pocket. They long to be touched and pondered. With those words I believe the author gives us a great clue about our lives in Christ. The Christian life isn’t an easy swim and we are often cautious and fearful of leaving the security of the sand beneath our toes. After all, it is difficult enough in those shallow waters isn’t it? Waves and breakers of disappointment and discouragement wash over us. We get tired treading water and even though we can put our feet down we are still almost over our heads. How could God ask any more of us? Deep calls to deep. God calls to the parts of us that have been yielded to Him and invite us into the deep waters. Why? Because that is where we really leave the shore and trust in Him. That is where the mysteries of His grace abound. That is where the waters become calm. If we only stay at the breakwater where we can control our own swim we will constantly be bombarded with crashing waves that take us forever back towards the shore/the world. There won’t be a minute’s rest. I’m not saying that going deep with God means there will be no more struggle. Walking (or swimming) with Him will always involve stretching and straining because that is the only way that we will yield more of our flesh and stubborn will to Him. But once we go deep, once we go way over our heads and fully rely on His grace and mercy to carry us, we will find a freedom in His deep waters we have never known.

You and I weren’t meant for the shallows. We weren’t meant to trust in some sand under our feet. We were made to revel in His glory and that glory is in the deep waters. By all means take a rest when you need it but unlike the physical ocean, you don’t need to get out of the water to rest. Don’t ever leave the deep waters once you are in them. Just rest where you are knowing that His very hand holds you gently on the surface while you rest. Once you are replenished He will call you ever deeper. When He calls, just go, because the view only gets more beautiful the further from the shore you get. I believe that is what the author of Psalm 42 did. Instead of running away from God when things got excruciating, he just went deeper into Him and that made all the difference. In the last verse of that painful Psalm, verse 11, he says, “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.” In whatever my hardest days to come will be I want to utter those words, don’t you? They are bobbing right on the surface of the deep waters of God. That is where we find them. Let’s go!