by Wade E Taylor
“Deep calls to deep. At the noise of Your waterspouts, all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me.” Psalm 42:7
Our Lord is a seeking God (Deep calls). He desires to have times of intimate fellowship with us, whom He created with this capability. He actively looks at the intent of our heart, seeking for an indication of any willingness that we may have, to respond to His seeking presence. If He finds, even buried deep within us, any indication of a sincere desire to personally know Him, He will begin to take a singular interest in us.
“I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Proverbs 8:17
This personal attention that we receive from the Lord can be likened to a waterspout, rather than to rain that equally falls upon all. A waterspout is caused by a wind pattern that whips rain into a horizontal funnel of water, which then finds a singular destination. While rain falls upon all, this waterspout causes a deluge upon one (all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me).
There is a deep inner satisfaction in experiencing this “Deep calling to deep,” in which the Lord singularly becomes active within our spiritual life experience, by taking a personal interest in creating within us both the desire and ability to enter into times of intimate communion with Him.
At first, we may not understand the purpose and direction of this divine activity (the noise of Your waterspouts), but gradually this “noise” will become within us a song of worship that will open the doorway into even better times of intimate fellowship with our Lord.
If the level of our spiritual hunger falls short of this deep desire within the Lord for personal fellowship with us, then reluctantly, He will feed us on the level of our desire toward Him. Many seek after, and are satisfied with that which the Lord can do for them. This can be better understood as we compare two groups that followed Jesus.
“And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which he did on them that were diseased.” John 6:2
Five thousand men, along with women and children, heard about the healings, and came to see if it was as they had been told. These were observers who came out of curiosity. Therefore, Jesus fed them on the level of their hunger.
Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fishes. He then gave each portion to His disciples who in turn gave to the people. They were given all that they were able to eat, as twelve baskets-full were left over. This was the best meal that they had ever eaten, but it only provided a temporary satisfaction.
Later, this multitude returned, looking for Jesus to repeat the miracle. Their only interest was in the materialistic satisfaction they had received from Him. There was no indication of any interest in Jesus Himself, who desired their fellowship. Therefore, the only word that the Lord spoke to them was a word of correction.
“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say to you, You seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you: for Him has God the Father sealed.” John 6:26-27
When Jesus offered His very life to them, they rejected Him and left. They had no capacity to hear or receive a higher and greater revelation and provision.
There was another group who responded in a different way.
“And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret.” Luke 5:1
There was a vast difference in the heart attitude of these two groups. The first desired to see miracles, the second pressed to hear the Word of the Lord.
The response of the Lord was entirely different concerning this second group. Because they “pressed to hear,” the deep desire within Him for fellowship with His creation, reached out to them.
“And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would push out a little from the land. And He sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.” Luke 5:2-3
The “land” speaks of our natural habitat, where we feel comfortable and are in control of our circumstances. The water speaks of the realm of the Spirit, where the Lord is in control and where He guides us, so as to make Himself and His ways known to us.
He begins in the “shallow” areas of our spiritual experience, by teaching us the basic principles of “walking in the spirit.” Then when we are ready, He will lead us out into “depths” in the realm of the Spirit (all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me). Here, we come into times of intimate communion with Him.
Notice that two ships were available. There will always be two ships, (two choices) that are available at the critical moment. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh. He went down to the seaport and found a ship waiting. However, it was going in the wrong direction. He entered, but later was thrown overboard and found himself within the belly of a second “ship” (whale) that was going in the right direction.
“Deep calls to deep.” It is up to us to respond to this call, and choose the ship we will enter. One will take us away from our Lord’s desire that we come to personally “know” Him. The other will lead us out into the deep where we can let down our nets, at His Word.
One of these ships can be considered to be those who were satisfied with the provision of loaves and fishes in John, Chapter 6. The other ship can be considered to be those who pressed to hear the Word of the Lord in Luke, Chapter 5. It is only here that our nets will hardly be able to hold all that He will provide.
The Lord knows which chapter (ship) we are in, John 6 or Luke 5. His action toward us will be determined by our attitude, which will place us in one or the other. Even if we are found to be spiritually living with the multitude in John 6, there is a way that will lead us to Luke 5. He will take of the loaves and fishes, multiply them, and feed us.
Then He will chasten us, showing us that there is something better. Most encouraging of all, He will show us the way. Our part is to learn by the mistake of the multitude in rejecting His offer of further revelation, and then ask Jesus to enable us to rightly respond,
May we respond to this desire of the Lord for our fellowship, and go beyond the loaves and fishes (material prosperity), no matter how good that may be.
Then, Jesus will find the satisfaction that He greatly desires – our being singularly in the boat with Him, with all His waves and billows going over us, as we move out in communion with Him into His deeper purposes.