“Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts; all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.” (Ps. 42:7 KJV)
t is 4:35 a.m. and my husband is out snowplowing. As I sip coffee and hang with the Lord, the Spirit beckons me to the piano. As I “soak” in His presence on this cold winter morning the Lord brings me to the beach. I stand barefoot on the shore in the Spirit and the waves begin to tickle my toes. I notice the constant movement, the eternal ebb and flow. The rhythm of the waves is intoxicating. Literally, I am in another state of mind as I am drawn into a realm of the Supernatural. This realm is a place we’ll only get to by faith. Not by our might, not by our power, but only by His Spirit.
In the natural, waves are created as wind blows over the water’s surface and so it is in the spiritual too. Sometimes the wind blows gently or sometimes it’s violent like a tornado. You never know, but one thing is certain, as long as we have wind we will have waves.
“I am the Lord, I do not change…” (Mal. 3:6)
In both the Old and New Testament, wind is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The word “spirit” means “breath or wind.” (Strong’s #7307 Hebrew; #4151 Greek.) God is constant, and He is constantly releasing the wind of His Spirit that will create waves. This movement brings the water up to “tickle our toes” as we stand on the shoreline beckoning us to launch our spirits out into the deep with Him.
David said, “Deep calleth unto deep.” Out at sea, out in the deep, is where the waterspout of the Lord will be found. Beloved, a waterspout is a tornado that has formed over water and it draws the water upward! It is not the same as a tornado because it is only formed on the water. I see this waterspout as a type of wind in the Spirit. Sometimes a gentle wind causing waves to come and tickle our toes drawing us into the deep and sometimes a violent and jealous waterspout that desires to draw us upward into His presence. I picture it as a Divine hand that comes down from heaven and gathers us up to Himself so we can be one with Him.
The only problem is, often when we are walking on the water towards Him, the violence of the waves scare us and our hopes begin to sink. The waves are not to scare us but rather to allure us.
notice the pattern in the sand, there is something constant about that too…it is constantly changing due to the eternal ebb and flow of the waves. I see the changing sand as the “new thing” the Lord is doing today. God is not changing, but everyone and every plan or idea that is born of the Spirit is, for the wind blows where it wishes. “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert…I will give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself, they shall declare My praise. (Is. 43:19-21). HalleluYah! Each day the wind blows creating the waves to tickle our toes, luring us to launch out into the deep...deep unto deep. If we don’t launch out we will never encounter the waterspout. But the question is, how thirsty are we for the deep things of God?
In our key scripture David’s opening words are, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.” (Ps. 42:1) David is speaking of a necessary desire that turns into a type of desperation for God. In the King James Version, the original word used for “deer” is “hart.” “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.” Beloved, we have been created with an internal spiritual thirst for our God…it’s called our heart. Just as the hart thirsts for the water that will sustain its very life, our heart does too. In Hebrew the word heart (St. #3824) means: heart, mind, soul, the inner man, the will, our understanding, the determination of our will, conscience. It is the seat of our emotions and passions. David’s desperate craving brought him to “Thy waterspout.”
When Jesus says, “follow Me,” we are led to the kingdom of God, or in this analogy, the shore line of the Lord…but there is so much more. Have you ever watched Animal Planet and witnessed an animal that has been traveling long looking for water? Their thirst forces them to travel on and on seeking the liquid that will sustain their lives. In many cases they don’t make it to the watering hole before their bodies fail giving up to the thirst within. It makes me weep when I see it and I believe God is weeping in heaven too when we don’t get to His watering hole. He did not create this world for death, pain and suffering. Yet because of sin...you know the story. Yes, Jesus overcame death and the grave HalleuYah, but we are still stuck in this world. However, God didn’t leave us stranded here in this dry and thirsty land but has provided for us an oasis of refreshing here on earth, just like there is in heaven.
So often we become satisfied with the promise of eternal life that we let the promises of the abundant life float right past us down the river. It’s like sipping from a canteen when you are standing on the shore of the River of God. The first time we see the River of God is in the Garden of Eden where it supplies life-giving water to all of creation prior to sin (Gen 2:10). Next we see the water coming from the temple in Ezek. 47:1 and once again we see the River of Life in Revelation 22:1.
“If you knew the gift of God…you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (Jn. 4:10)
If only we knew, wow. I believe that Jesus was referring to this same River of God as He spoke to the Samaritan women by the well that day. Naturally she quickly replied, “Give me this water!” But before Jesus told her the secret of this water source He asked her an uncomfortable question regarding the man she was living with. This had to cause a “wave” of discomfort within her; He was a complete stranger after all, why should she share her private information with Him. Yet because of the internal thirst God created within her, she pushed past her waves of fear and replied honestly. Jesus revealed that He knew the hidden areas of her life all along yet He sat with her and offered her this drink. Immediately her thoughts went from water - her physical need, to worship - her spiritual need. Beloved, in this River He supplies all of our needs both the natural and the spiritual. If only we knew how much more God has for us in those deeper waters, maybe then we would we be more willing to launch out and leave the shore.
Consider Peter in Luke 5, he and his crew are on the shoreline. They had been fishing unsuccessfully all night long so they gave up. Jesus got into his boat to speak to the multitude. Peter sat and received the words of life that Jesus was teaching yet when Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” Peter’s reply was, “Naw, there’s nothing there, we’ve already tried.” You see, Peter didn’t really want to launch deeper, he was content where he was, further more he didn’t think it was going to bring any results…“Never-the-less, at Your word I will let down the net.” HalleluYah! Because he wasn’t afraid to come out looking all wet he let down the net again and they caught so many fish their net was breaking. How many times have we settled for less when Jesus has so much more for us? With God, it is never-the-less, it’s always-the-more. Can we catch what the Spirit is saying today and reply, “never-the-less Lord” and launch out again?
Let’s pray. Lord, enlarge my imagination, stretch out the borders of my faith and cause my heart to hunger and thirst anew. Awake O north wind and come O south send me the waves that will tickle my toes. Draw me into the deep so that I too may behold Thy waterspouts and see that which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard. And Lord, I pray You make this not just a teaching but rather words that enter into the hearts of all who read it, then Lord, seal it up with fire so the enemy cannot steal what You have sown. Amen.
"Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.”
(Isa. 54:2)
*All scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
