plunged beneath, II

part2 - thoughts
Our God declares Himself to be Deep Waters. Each illustration of God is in itself inadequate, if kept alone, but placing pictures together provides a partial puzzle that allows us to start to see something we had not before.

Deep waters are the only place certain things can occur. Scientists say there are types of fusion that can only be achieved in deep waters, because they afford a dynamic like no other earthly environment. It is a place of quiet darkness, where the entire ocean's weight rests. Deep waters are in the very presence of the tetonic plates that cause worlds to collide - water to wind and water to earth - or pull them apart. Psalm 93 says that "floods lift up their roaring," but "mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!" His deep waters hold more power and mystery than the floods of the earth. Psalm 92 makes me think of the deep, dark places of the ocean when it says, "How great are your works Oh Lord, your thoughts are very deep." Psalm 18 says that thick darkness surrounds God. The stillness, the quiet, the weightiness of the depths of deep waters is a pointer that I feel allows us to meditate on the depths of the Spirit of the Living God.

This past year has been like going over a waterfall in many ways, and now I feel almost though I'd been plunged into a different kind of deep waters. These are the deep waters that are carved underneath a waterfall in the violence of falling, churning water. In movies, when someone jumps off a high cliff into water, the camera shot almost always shows the plunge from below the surface, and there's that immediate calm that is almost jarring in its contrast to the force of distraction in the surrounding world. That, to me, is the "shadow of His wings" spoken of in Psalm 91. It's the peaceful, brooding presence of God's Spirit in Genesis 1. Because we love Him, He catches us in the cradle of the deep, holding fast to us. Because we are His creation, He hovers over us, ready to create new life from the barren wasteland of strife and pride. We fall from our own strength, pushed over the edge by waves of humanity and end up in a cascade of emotion, geographical change, and being split like water over the falls by the Holy Spirit separating us, the force of gravity meeting His wind that causes one tide coming over a cliff to fray while falling, into separate streams, drops and mist.

We are pulled apart, air entering uncomfortably between droplets that we never wanted to separate, into a Spirit-ordered chaos we can't grasp, but find ourselves falling into, far more fragmented and misunderstood than ever, only to plunge us into deep waters. And then we find ourselves quiet, spiritual nausea gone, at peace, in His arms.

Deep waters. We felt fragmented, but now are being knit together in ways that wouldn't have been possible if we were still trying to hold ourselves together. We are weak, but the power of His brooding both satisfies and makes desperate with expectation.

Lord, shift eternity's tetonic plates. Push deep waters from rest, and cause them to crest in a spiritual tsunami in our land!

orig. posted 12/05.