Onward, Forward, Toward…

Within the past few weeks, I have been talking my concordance in the back of my Bible and have started looking up all verses that contain the word ‘deep’.

I came across this verse in Psalms 33:7 which states:

He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.

The word ‘deep’ is the Hebrew word “תּהם תּהום” meaning “depth” and also refers to a subterranean water supply. In reference to this, one of the commentaries I have had this to say about this verse:

“He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap.” The waters were once scattered like corn strewn upon a threshing floor: they are now collected in one spot as an heap. Who else could have gathered them into one channel but their great Lord, at whose bidding the waters fled away? The miracle of the Red Sea is repeated in nature day by day, for the sea which now invades the shore under the impulse of sun and moon, would soon devour the land if bounds were not maintained by the divine decree. “He layeth up the deep in storehouses.” The depths of the main are God’s great cellars and storerooms for the tempestuous element. Vast reservoirs of water are secreted in the bowels of the earth, from which issue our springs and wells of water. What a merciful provision for a pressing need? May not the text also refer to the clouds, and the magazines of that, and snow, and rain, those treasuries of merciful wealth for the fields of earth? These aqueous masses are not piled away as in lumber rooms, but in storehouses for future beneficial use. Abundant tenderness is seen in the foresight of our heavenly Joseph, whose granaries are already filled against earth’s time of need. These stores might have been, as once they were, the ammunition of vengeance, they are now a part of the commissariat of mercy.

I stand in awe of the word reservoir in reference to a vast quantity stored away. As I write this, I am thinking about two things here. One thing I remember as a child was the energy crisis of the mid-to-late 1970’s. I remember a massive campaign in school about energy consumption and barely remember the odd/even license plate days in order to obtain gasoline.

The second thing I remember as a child / teenager/ and adult hearing about people who sinned after their conversion to Christ was ‘using up’ all of God’s mercy and that we needed to become more holy (a.k.a. ‘perfect’) and never sin again.

Both stories may be somewhat similar but the end result of the consequence was the same:

We are going to run out and use up…..

All our ‘allocated’ energy resources
All out ‘allotted’ measure of Grace
All our gasoline
All out ‘free passes’ and ‘get out of jail free’ cards.
All our natural gas, coal, and water for steam
All our time to get our ‘act’ straight.

…and eventualy come to a standstill and die.

In otherwords, God has this ‘defined’ (but undefined within the Bible) amount of patience, Grace, forgiveness, and Blood that we are allotted in order to wash our failures, foul-ups, blunders, etc. The ‘undefining’ was explained away that God would not tell us because human nature would use all of it up until they are about to die and never grow in Christ.

What a load of hogwash!!!

I’m not talking about ‘easy believism’, ‘greasy grace’ nor ’sin more to make God’s grace much more abound even more’. I’m talking about a deeper love, deeper grace, and a deeper power of Jesus Christ that actually enhances a core Biblical foundation of sovereignty, providence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.

There is only one way to obtain it in life. Study deeper the water of the Word. Walk out deeper into the floodwaters of life. Go out into the mystery of life, the unknown, and the feared knowing that there is an everlasting presence and abundant supply of Jesus there in the midst of you. that will never leave you, forsake you, and never run out.

The more I study the concept of ‘deep’, the ‘deeper’ it gets and the more intriguing it is to ‘fathom’ it….