Deep Calls to Deep
This is a time of new beginnings for me: I venture into a new country to begin living with a new family, attending a new school, and forming new friendships. And so, I have decided that a blog should be my next new endeavor as an attempt to record these experiences and also communicate with friends and family. I began a blog a few years ago when I first moved to Honduras, and I must admit that it was a miserable failure because I never took the time to update it. (I think that it had something to do with being a first-year teacher). I believe, however, that I now have greater determination, time, and reason to write regularly, so I hope to update weekly.
For the past few weeks I have been pondering titles for this blog. I read through some of my favorite quotes and scripture passages, hoping that something would stand out as befitting my intentions for the blog and the journey on which I was about to embark. I had still not reached any brilliant decision on Monday night when I arrived in Costa Rica and moved in with my Tico family.
That night I began reading a devotional by Amy Carmichael--a meditation on Psalm 42: 5, 7-8. The psalmist writes, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within my? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God...Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life." Feeling a bit emotionally raw at the time and searching for my footing in a new place, I identified with the psalmist's alternating feelings of distress and despair, thanksgiving and trust in God.
The phrase "Deep calls to deep" required further thought. What was the deep call which the psalmist recognized in the roar of the waterfall? First, waterfalls, in their breathtaking power and beauty reflect the nature of God; they also have the potential to draw us closer to our creator in awe and worship. Perhaps this is the case for the psalmist as he remembers God. In a different sense, the turmoil of the waterfall also reflects the turmoil of the psalmist's soul. He is tossed by storms, and in the midst of the chaos and his despair, he clings to the Rock and puts his hope in God. Deep calls to deep. Out of his deep need, the psalmist calls to God, and the reservoirs of God's deep love and faithfulness are more than sufficient. Isn't that marvelous?
I have been reading The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, and am reminded of the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, and this is that Jesus loves us despite our unworthiness. Although it is the foundation of my Christian faith, I don't often enough let this truth sink into my bones. And yet it is an astounding, life-transforming realization. The only thing that God asks of us is "that we be men and women of prayer, people who live close to God, people for whom God is everything and God is enough" (Manning 46). For God actually calls to us first out of his deep love and merely desires that we seek his face, recognizing that we are needy people and nothing on our own.
The next year--indeed, the life journey--may be tumultuous at times; I expect periods of great joy and excitement as well as times of anxiety and despair, but I choose now to remember God. And as I call out of the depth of my need to God, I trust that he will meet me in the depth of his love. And so the title of my blog: Deep calls to deep. May it be a reminder.
For the past few weeks I have been pondering titles for this blog. I read through some of my favorite quotes and scripture passages, hoping that something would stand out as befitting my intentions for the blog and the journey on which I was about to embark. I had still not reached any brilliant decision on Monday night when I arrived in Costa Rica and moved in with my Tico family.
That night I began reading a devotional by Amy Carmichael--a meditation on Psalm 42: 5, 7-8. The psalmist writes, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within my? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God...Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life." Feeling a bit emotionally raw at the time and searching for my footing in a new place, I identified with the psalmist's alternating feelings of distress and despair, thanksgiving and trust in God.
The phrase "Deep calls to deep" required further thought. What was the deep call which the psalmist recognized in the roar of the waterfall? First, waterfalls, in their breathtaking power and beauty reflect the nature of God; they also have the potential to draw us closer to our creator in awe and worship. Perhaps this is the case for the psalmist as he remembers God. In a different sense, the turmoil of the waterfall also reflects the turmoil of the psalmist's soul. He is tossed by storms, and in the midst of the chaos and his despair, he clings to the Rock and puts his hope in God. Deep calls to deep. Out of his deep need, the psalmist calls to God, and the reservoirs of God's deep love and faithfulness are more than sufficient. Isn't that marvelous?
I have been reading The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, and am reminded of the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel, and this is that Jesus loves us despite our unworthiness. Although it is the foundation of my Christian faith, I don't often enough let this truth sink into my bones. And yet it is an astounding, life-transforming realization. The only thing that God asks of us is "that we be men and women of prayer, people who live close to God, people for whom God is everything and God is enough" (Manning 46). For God actually calls to us first out of his deep love and merely desires that we seek his face, recognizing that we are needy people and nothing on our own.
The next year--indeed, the life journey--may be tumultuous at times; I expect periods of great joy and excitement as well as times of anxiety and despair, but I choose now to remember God. And as I call out of the depth of my need to God, I trust that he will meet me in the depth of his love. And so the title of my blog: Deep calls to deep. May it be a reminder.
Comments
Funny thing - I'll have to fix my last entry regarding Lauras in other countries :)