Deep Calls to Deep

Psalm 42:7

This beautifully descriptive phrase immediately captures the imagination, but its meaning escapes us at first glance. What does David mean? The idea seems to be twofold. First, David and those with him have been forced to flee and are far from the people of God and the regular worship of the Lord. Their troubles were overwhelming. To them, it was like massive ocean waves had swept over them and plunged them helplessly into the deeps of the ocean. The deep troubled sea seemed to be calling out to the skies above which formed their waterspouts. Tornadic like funnels were dropping down from the dark cloudy sky and joining forces with the troubled waters of the ocean to bear down on David. Deep was calling unto deep and aligning against him.

There seems to be a second meaning here though. And this is the idea that we instinctively are drawn to in these words even when we don’t immediately grasp the intent. There is the idea that the depth of David’s troubles were calling out to the depth of God’s provision. Deep problems call for deep answers. The depth of our sin is met in the depth of God’s grace. The depth of our misery is met by the depth of God’s mercy. The depth of our loneliness is met by the depth of His fellowship. And so on…

Our deep calls unto God’s deep and God’s deep calls to us to find our deep filled by His depth.