Tired of the Shallow? Desperate for Intimacy?

God Calls Us to a Deep, Intimate relationship with Himself.

           

         Psalm 45:7   Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your  waves and billows have gone over me.

So many marriages fail because one of the spouses comes to that place where they just have to have more, they crave a close, intimate relationship but their spouse has no clue. Jesus wants us to know Him as the LOVER OF OUR SOUL, and that is anything but a shallow distant relationship. It is impossible to express His love for individuals if you have not experienced it yourself.

Back in the 60’s we used a derogatory expression, “Plastic People.” These were those people who are perceived to be phony, superficial, “stuck-up,” a manikin that breaths, moves, eats and all too often puts down other people. A wonderful thing about God is that He loves the people and draws them to Himself, promising an abundant life. The phony, imitation can receive real life and depth of character as their relationship with Jesus grows.

I wonder about some churches that are plastic too. Did you ever hear the criticism that a church is a mile wide but only an inch deep? Too many of God’s people are living this kind of life, most probably saved but not answering God’s call to the deeper places, never experiencing the close relationship with Jesus that He died to bring us into. There is an implication in this that our relationships with other believers become more meaningful too.

Ezek 47:1   In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side.

3    Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles.

4   He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist.

5   Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.

6   He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank.

7   When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river.

8   Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure.

9   There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows.

In the beginning of Ezekiel chapter 47 we read of a very fascinating vision that demonstrates this principle. The prophet was led to a river that gradually got deeper and deeper. Ezekiel was led gradually from an ankle deep stream to a river that was so deep and wide it could not be crossed. This is a river of life and healing, but the progression also depicts the various stages where people get content and stop. The real purpose of this river was not described to Ezekiel until he got in over his head. There is real life, real healing and abundance of provision in the deep waters. The shallows have a little but God calls us deeper and deeper to where we experience the abundance of His life. Please take careful notice of the fact that the water was over his head, deep waters to swim in, deep waters of a river moving swiftly and taking control of you if you let it. Swimming upstream is impossible, you must just surrender to the waters and let them take you through life. 

You see, real victory over every obstacle of life, over every temptation and adversity comes with surrender to Jesus.

Let me give you a picture of how this works out in our lives. Not long after I got saved I visited Martinsville, VA. There I met a young lady with whom I had several lengthy conversations. I don’t remember anything we talked about (it was in early 1972) but I will never forget the way the Lord was working in my heart during those talks. It was as if a big shovel was digging deep into my heart and digging out garbage. We had a depth of conversation I had never experienced before. I never saw her again but I hope we will re-unite in Heaven. Something supernatural happened in my heart that day. A deep well was dug in that day.

Wells and springs in the desert are another Biblical analogy to deep calling unto deep.

Gen. 26: 17   Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 

18  And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.

19   Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.

Without water there just is no life. Here is Isaac, a shepherd with huge flocks, many workers and a large extended family. These people and animals needed a lot of water. The enemy had stopped up Abraham’s wells, he is always seeking to destroy people and thwart the plans of God. You can bet Isaac’s servants worked their proverbially butts off digging out those wells in the hot desert sun, with little to drink until they accomplished their task. Can you imagine the joy when they hit that well of springing water. They found an artesian well. Our hearts and lives should be like that, even as Jesus said,

John 7:38   He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And as King David declared,

Psalm 46: 4   There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5   God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

There are many other verses, and a multitude of songs, about the river, about living water and other references along this line. There is no drought in the Kingdom of God. The problem is that those who truly thirst for the things of God are far less in number than those satisfied with just, “Fill my cup Lord.” If all they are asking God for is to fill that little communion sized cup they are missing the plan of God for themselves and those they could touch. We need to come to Jesus, not with a little cup but with our whole being and pray for such a outpouring that overflows all over the place, spilling out onto those around us. The obstacle to doing this is that we don’t want to open up places of secret sin in our hearts that waste space the Lord wants to fill and that stop to overflow that others need so desperately..

Look at the connection between what David said in Psalm 46:4 above and,

 Matthew 5:6   Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Where is the gladness David referred to? In the city of God, a phrase that is analogous to the church. Tie together the second part of that verse, “the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High” with the verse,

1 Corinthians 3:16   Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

We, God’s people, all born again believers in the Gospel, should walk in holiness because we are the Temple, and walk in gladness because the river of God flows through us. If we continuously hunger and thirst for righteousness (right standing, right relationship with God) we are motivated to surrender to Him and to get in the deepest places of the river. Oh, how different the world could be if the Church at large walked in this close relationship with God. Oh that we would allow ourselves to take the time to get intimate in our conversation with the LOVER OF OUR SOUL, for you see the result of intimacy is as the result of intimacy between a man and his wife.

Let me conclude with the key to walking out everything written so far. I mentioned above that we experience victory when we surrender to Jesus. Notice, in this next verse, what the woman is doing as she comes out of the wilderness,

https://cherideejohnson.com/outrageous-love/

The LOVER OF HER SOUL, had come to the door late at night and she didn’t get up out of bed to let him in so he passed on. When she realized what she had done she panicked, got dressed and frantically searched for Him throughout the city. Several chapter later in the story we see a dramatic change in her. She is no longer frantic, no longer striving in her own strength to find the Lord. She is leaning on HIM, her own strength has proven insufficient and her broken heart is totally healed. This is the true definition of meekness – with personal strength gone, one becomes submissive to the divine will; neither proud nor self-sufficient. The Lord had taken her through a wilderness experience and she learned to yielded completely to Him, she entered into a deep intimate relationship with the 
JESUS, the LOVER OF OUR SOULS.