There is a saying, “you’re being as deep as a puddle”. It’s not referring to the crazy deep puddles you can disappear into in New Zealand where I was born, but those one’s where you just get your feet a little wet. Therefore if you are being “as deep as a puddle”, you aren’t very deep at all, you are shallow.
Being a deep person means being a person capable of experiencing large emotions, where you have made firmly-rooted moral, emotional and spiritual relationships. It’s where we have gained revelation in an area of our life and are faithful in our commitments. It’s when we have become dissatisfied with living comfortable, predicable, often shallow lives and we want more. People who are “deep” have an internal and spiritual depth to them which pervades everything they say and do.
Many of us admire those we recognise as having a depth to their person and character. We perhaps even strive and desire to be a person of depth. But sadly a large proportion of humanity, and even those who profess a spiritual life, are content to remain in the shallow waters of life where it seems safe, predictable and comfortable. Perhaps, that is because many of us are in actual fact “comfort seekers”. We long for the predictable, the steady, and for our “ducks to be all in a line” in life.
The problem however is that true depth, and especially a deep walk with God involves stepping out of our comfort zone; it often involves risk, challenges, and the need to go where we haven’t been before, and more often than not where we can’t see how it’s all going to happen or work out.
Being a follower of Jesus is not for the faint hearted. To fully love and follow Him, He said we must ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Luke 10:27)
You can’t have a commitment and love like that in the shallow end. It confronts our mindsets, heart motives, and habits, and challenges us to stretch out and go deeper.
Psalm 42:7 (NIV) says, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me”.
This passage in the bible speaks of the deep part of God interacting with the deep part of who we are. There is a cry and longing in everyone to go deeper, to know who we truly are, and to know God and experience everything He has for us. Unfortunately few set sail, or are prepared to step off the safety of the shore and into the deep.
Far too often we are content in the shallow waters, where we relegate our daily intimacy with God to microwave 30 second prayers, thoughtless tick the box, “I’ve done a Bible reading”, and relying on others and church services to fill those deep places in us.
We might even content ourselves with “doing things” for God, hoping that our performance pleases Him. But that is not what He wants. That is not what causes the deep to call to the deep, and the full depths of His love and power to immerse and wash over us. We all must develop our own daily intimacy and relationship with God. To be deep in Him, and to remain in that place, takes time, courage and a commitment to know Him more.
We were made to know God, and to know Him deeply. If we would only realize how much more there is for us to discover and be. It means being dissatisfied with a shallow life, and deciding and living as Paul in the bible said, “For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognising and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly”. (Philippians 3:10 AMP)
Today, start to value the deep things. No longer be content with the shallow end. Don’t rush life, your relationships, or your time spent with God. Our desire for depth will be reflected in our daily routine, so let’s choose to spend careful, quality time allowing the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to soak into our hearts and minds as we go deeper.
Here is a song to encourage you to seek the depths, by Hillsong United – Oceans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw
Prayer: Lord I want to go deeper. To be a person of depth in my character, emotions, values, and in my walk with you. Please guide me as I step out of the shallows and my comfort zone, and start to walk and live “in the deep” with you. In Jesus name Amen.