Ps 42:7 Deep
calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows
have gone over me. (NKJ)
THE
CALL OF DEEP UNTO DEEP
By John Wright Follette
Down in the depth of
my nature
Where the issues of
life are born,
From that unknown
mystical realm,
Surviving through
ages of storm,
A call is forever
rising--
But its language I
cannot speak.
It was born ere I had
being,
'Tis the call of deep
unto deep.
Our mother tongue
here is awkward,
For no words can
fully express
The needs in the
depths of nature,
In bondage to sin and
distress.
Our hearts in their
depths sorely ache;
They hunger; they
call; and they seek--
Then silently wait an
answer
To the call of deep
unto deep.
Down deep in the
heart of our God,
In mystical regions
sublime,
In the Godhead's holy
council
Long before our world
or our time,
An answer was fully
prepared
Every pain, every
ache to meet,
In Christ, God's only
begotten,
Is answer to deep
unto deep.
The Answer indeed was
the Word,
The Word when
expressed was the Son.
Oh language of God
how profound!
In answer what more
could be done?
The heart of our God
is hungry,
His portion, His
people to seek.
"l thirst,"
was cried by the Answer-
'Tis the call of deep
unto deep.
Sometimes I hear
people pray things, or sing about things and I wonder, “Do they really
understand what they are praying for? Do they have any idea of what would
happen if the Lord answered that prayer?” My Pastor asked us how
we would react if we saw a mighty angel, like Daniel did.
Another way to
put this is, “How ready are you for the Lord to reveal things to you that are
deeper in your heart than you really want Him to go?” Is the hunger and ache in
your heart so great that you can ask God for more of Him?
What do we mean
when we say we want more of God?
Is there a
process He takes us through in order to give it to us?
There are 2
books I would recommend if you are serious in getting the full answers: “Hinds Feet in
High Places” by Hannah Hurnard and “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. Google them, I’m sure you
can find them online.
There’s an
old song, I hope some of you remember it. It’s the kind of song you may have
learned in Sunday school. It is very simple, yet walking it out takes a
lifetime. I hope it becomes one of those songs that gets stuck in your head.
I want more of Jesus
More and more and more.
I want more of Jesus than
I’ve ever had before.
I want more of His great love,
So rich and full and free.
I want more of Jesus so
I’ll give Him more of
me.
Sounds simple enough but it
ends with something that will take you the rest of your life on Earth to
experience. Giving Him more of us equates to a lifestyle of repentance. Are you determined to make the right choices? Determined to always
yield to righteousness? Sometimes it’s not so simple, we complicate it with
works, with self-righteousness.
Rom 6:16 Do you
not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's
slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading
to righteousness?
17 But God be
thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18 And having
been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I speak in
human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented
your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more
lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for
holiness. (NKJ)
Now don’t get in the flesh
about this and start looking for things that you may need to repent of – please
don’t fall into a quilt trip or legalism. Remember, Christianity is not a list
of does and don’ts. It is a relationship with the Almighty and in that
relationship we learn how to please the Lover of our souls. As you catch some
glimpse of His character, as He reveals something about Himself to you, His
love in your heart will motivate you to change and His Grace and the Holy
Spirit that is in you will empower you to do so.
The Lord knows that in and
of our limited, frail, human capacities there is no way we will completely
follow through, we just can’t do it. We want to heed His call to pick up our
cross and follow Him but usually want to do that on a cross we make ourselves,
padded and not so uncomfortable and Calvary’s cross. The sooner you realize
that the sooner you’ll learn of the freedom we have in Christ. Please do not
strive in your flesh to be righteous – you’ll never measure up to His standards.
Now let’s get to those 2
questions I asked a little while ago,
1.
What do we mean
when we say we want more of God?
2.
Is there a
process He takes us through in order to give it to us?
As I already mentioned, sometimes I hear
people pray things, or sing about things and I wonder, “Do they really
understand what they are praying for? Do they have any idea of what would
happen if the Lord answered that prayer?” Anyone ever prayed for patience?
When meditating
on this my mind was flooded with so many songs we used to sing that were
prayers for more of God.
“More love… more
power… more of you in my life (2x)
And I will
worship you
With all of my
life.. etc etc.
Or do you remember...
“More of You,
more of You
I’ve had it all
but what I need is just more of you.
Of things I’ve
had my fill
But yet I hunger
still,
Thirsty &
dry, Lord hear my cry
For just more of
you.”
In order for us
to be able to receive His answers to these prayers He puts us through a
process, and it varies for each individual, it varies with time, it is unique
for you. The Lord has a plan for your life and primarily it is to bring you
closer to Himself, to cause you to become more like Jesus and ever more
passionate for Him, appreciative of His Manifest Presence.
There are some
great analogies in the Song of Solomon. Briefly,
Song of Solomon 5:2 I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the voice
of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, my
dove, my perfect one; for my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops
of the night."
3 I have taken
off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile
them?
4 My beloved
put his hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for him.
5 I arose to
open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid
myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
6 I opened for
my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up
when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he
gave me no answer.
The next verses in this
chapter describe her desperate search throughout the city to find Him. She was
too slow to respond, she made excuses to stay in bed.
Something happened in her
heart between Chapter 5 & chapter 8. She went through a process. Notice she
isn’t walking with Him, they are not skipping like a young couple just having
fun and laughing together. Those times are wonderful but here she is leaning on
Him. Her own strength is gone, she’s dependent on Him. The call of deep unto
deep was answered – she’s different. Look at the change of heart and then we’ll
talk about what the Lord does to bring this about.
Watch the center of her attention in the following 5 steps.
Song of Solomon 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king
hath brought me into his chambers: we
will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the
upright love thee. (KJV)
Believe me I would much rather remember God’s love, remember
intimate times in His presence, even those times of correction, than the
effects of too much wine. The Lord loves it when His kids get happy in His
presence, when we rejoice with exceeding great joy.
But my friends, this is only the beginning. The intimacy, the
fellowship with God that is available to us is far greater when we come back
from that field, from that vacation in the villages with Him with our own
strength gone, when we’ve let go of more of our carnal self. When we allow the
Lord to go deeper into our inner man and replace the junk with some revelation
of the deeper things of His character.
What is it that God uses to bring us to this place of great
freedom and blessing? Stuff that our flesh doesn’t usually enjoy:
Rom 5:1 Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,
2 through whom
also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only that,
but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces
perseverance;
4 and
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 Now hope does
not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Our lives are constantly in the remaking process, we constantly
exchange junk for pure gold. The Lord is preparing us for our marriage to His Son. How does the bride get to
the Bridegroom? Look at Genesis 24, the story of Abraham’s servant going to get
a bride for Isaac. In this story we can easily say that Abraham represents God
the Father, Isaac the SON and the servant is the Holy Ghost. The servant
doesn’t just walk across the vast desert, and he doesn’t go empty handed. In
addition to beautiful things that will wet the Bride’s appetite, he brings 10
camels (Gen 24:10). She is given a means of transportation across that vast
desert. In verse 11 we see that the servant, that is to say the Holy Ghost, is
in control of the camels, he has them kneel.
The journey starts with her
making a choice. We are constantly faced with choices and it is so important
that our internal radio is tuned to the God Station. Rebecca chose to go with
the servant.Let me quote more from Folette,
So let us not be foolish and pray
for God to draw us nearer and bring our hearts to sweet fellowship and understanding of Isaac and then when He sends us a camel to carry us there want
to shoot him. Never shoot your camels! What foolish creatures we are
anyway! With one breath we pray God to
draw us near, conform us to His image, and deepen our lives in God, and with
the next breath we shout at the camel He has sent to answer our prayer. Don't
you remember it is tribulation that worketh patience and not a sweet feeling at
an altar service?”
“The camels are awkward and not so very easy to ride. There is an
art to it and the secret of it is this---move with the camel and do not
try to resist his momentum. For that is already established, so all you
have to do is to yield to the sway and movement of the camel and you will
soon learn to ride. Never resist the camel's momentum, for if. you do it will
make you sick and you will have a very hard time of it.
Let’s look at 1 of the
camels, the person you really have a hard time loving, the one who just always
gives you a hard time and is just impossible to get along with. You water this
camel with a bad attitude. God sent this camel for you to ride, not for you to
carry on your back. Get the right saddle out of the barn
What a neat thing happens
when we repent of that pride and apprehend God’s enabling Grace. We handle the
irritating things about that camel graciously and enjoy the ride toward our
Isaac.
How about the camel that is
a long, drawn out trial? The Lord has had me ride this camel all too often – a
trial of faith and patience - unemployment. Some people are
caring for handicapped family members, dealing with severe financial and/or health siuations, or my amazing wife who has had to
lovingly endure being married to me for all these years (39 as of this writing). There’s a saddle in
the barn for this:
In the midst of that trial,
we are called upon to give, and not just financially. When we apprehend the
Grace to be a cheerful giver we will have an abundance of everything we need
for every good work.
The caravan is large and we
get to ride many different camels. The key is to apprehend His Grace to deal
with each one with a right attitude. Don’t you want to get to the Lover of your
soul? Of course you do. And not just to be in the same room but to be
completely yielded to Him.
In conclusion I have to ask
again, Do you really want more of God? Will you, as Rebecca did, say, “I will
go.” Are you ready to ride those camels, choosing the right saddle for each one?
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