Deep things sometimes scare me. I enjoyed snorkeling in the Philippines in the South China Sea until I got to a place where it was so deep I couldn’t see the bottom. It was possible there were hungry creatures down there that were looking for a meal and I didn’t want to be a part of that. Fishing in the Bitterroot River, there are some deep holes and I know that if I were to step into them I would be in trouble. Once you have explored a coral reef or the depths of a river you overcome your fears you can relax and marvel at the beauty or the mystery. What a rush to see a moray eel peeking at you from his den or getting a fish to strike a fly out of those deep pools. What excitement, what an adrenalin rush.

I was thinking about this in conjunction with the spiritual realm. God invites us to go deep with Him rather than be content with the surface. In Romans 11 we read “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.”

As Paul writes his New Testament books he reveals something of his heart as he grows and lives in this intimate relationship with the Almighty Creator. Phil 3:10: “I want to know Christ” . . . I want to progressively become intimately acquainted with my Lord . . I want to go deep. “I want to know the power of His resurrection” I want to touch His garment and allow Christ’s power to flow through me to others. “I want to know the fellowship of His suffering.” Why Paul the suffering part? James says that trials, suffering drive us deeper into our walk with the Lord.

People this should be our cry to go deeper in our spiritual walk and not be satisfied with the surface. To be intimately acquainted with Him. Not to be intimately acquainted with theology, the church or good works, but to be intimately acquainted with Christ, to fall in love with our Savior. What a rush to get beyond the surface.  

David said in Psalms 42, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for thee oh God. My soul thirsts for the living God.”

The question that arises in my mind is what keeps us from this intimate deep walk with our God? Here are a couple of things to consider that seems hinders us (me) from actively pursuing and taking hold of this deep, exciting, productive walk with our God.

ü      First is our cluttered complicated world. God did not create it this way. We with depraved minds made it this way. The writer of Ecclesiastes says this, “God made us plain and simple, but we made ourselves very complicated.”  And we have.

We cry out, “More is better, bigger is best, enough is never enough.” Not only do we acquire we keep and then we have to maintain all that we keep. There are times when I get on this treadmill and I ride it until I am exhausted. Busyness becomes my greatest enemy to intimacy with God

It seems to me that in order to walk in a deep relationship with our Creator we need to simplify our private lives. Now I don’t know what that means to you, but I do know there are some steps that I can take. I need to work on the discipline of simplicity. .  I need to get the clutter out of my life.

ü      Another thing that keeps me from enjoying the deep things of God is the lack of silence. Psalms 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” We live in a noisy world today.

There is no way that you or I can probe the depths of God unless we spend some time of stillness in His presence. We are commanded to rest, relax, let go and spend time with Him. We need to find the time and place where we can get alone with God. We need solitude not only where we can seek God and His presence, but a place where God can search us. “Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 139). God draw me deep!