"Deep Calls to Deep", part 1

There are various understandings associated with the Biblical phrase “deep calls to deep.” The word deep can have different connotations depending on the way it is used in scripture and the context of the word. In my walk with the Lord, I have discovered over a life time that there is deep, there is deeper and then there is the deepest of all profound revelations and communion with the Spirit of God. For the greatest understanding of these three types of experiences, one will need to look up the scriptures referenced here and read them in context. These spiritual encounters can be experienced by any believer at various times in their life and do not represent progressive stages, just different experiences with God.

1. “Deep” is where one experiences great distress and feelings of being abandoned and rejected by God.

*Ps. 42 provides a literary allusion to the waterfalls by which the waters from God's storehouse above (the deep above) pour down into the streams and rivers that empty into the seas (the deep below). This is a picture of great distress by the author and refers to God's waves and breakers sweeping over him. God is involved in our suffering to the extent that he allows catastrophes, sickness, and death, but promises to go through these times with us. Also see Gen. 1:2, SS 7:11.

Ps. 42 and 43 actually go together as one prayer of deliverance from being oppressed by the enemy and for restoration back into God's presence. *The author of this prayer is not known, but it is believed to be written by someone exiled outside the boundaries of Israel and Judah, perhaps living near Mt. Herman on the headwaters of the Jordan River. Certainly he was exiled away from God's temple (His Presence) where he used to go worship on a regular basis.

Ps. 44 goes with 42 and 43 and tells us the Israelites were delivered into the hands of the enemy and were slaughtered like sheep (vs. 22). *This psalm is Israel's cry for help after suffering defeat at the hands of the enemy, perhaps during the reign of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah. There are times in life when our enemies overwhelm us and we feel helpless and destroyed. We feel cut off from God and abandoned. The deep cry of our heart is to once again enter into His Presence and experience His loving care and protection. 

 *All three psalms are concerned with the same two common ideas. First. Why-- God? Why have you forgotten us and rejected us? Why did this have to happen? Why did you not prevent this from happening? But the "why" questions may not ever get answered to our satisfaction. Secondly. Faith responds with- even so put your hope in God, because His love will not fail. This same perplexity and resolution was seen in Job's story. He saw great disaster come upon his family and he lost all his wealth and his children. Yet Job responded with, even though He slay me, yet will I put my trust in God. The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ is another example.

Ps. 18:16 says God “drew me out of deep waters.” Ps. 30:1 tells us “you lifted me out of the depths, spared me from the pit” meaning God brought him up from a near death experience and the grave. The terms depths and the pit are associated with death, the grave, darkness, deep depression, destruction, corruption, or even chronic and critical illness. These situations make us feel all alone and abandoned by God when He doesn't appear to be answering our prayers. New converts to Christ often express this feeling that God spared their life when they were on the road to destruction.

Ps. 30:11 tells us, however, that when the crisis was turned, the author said, “you turned my wailing into dancing, clothed me with joy and my heart sings.” So the psalm ultimately turns out to be a song of praise for the Lord's deliverance from illness and death. We are brought up from the depths of our despair and once again experience God's joy and peace. As the hymn reads, “All is well with our soul.”

 *Notes taken from the NIV Study Bible, 2005, Zondervon Publishing.