Deep calls to deep
Psalm 42:7

Psalm 42 is a poem of real longing, written by the ‘Sons of Korah’. We don’t really know much about the Sons of Korah. We know a bit about their dad, and that’s a tale for another time. His sons’ story is lost. All that survives of them is the 11 songs that they contributed to the Psalms. (If you’re thinking Sons of Korah might be a good name for your band, it’s taken. And I don’t just mean the original line-up from the 970s BC.)

The psalm explores what it feels like to feel distant from God. The writer remembers a time when God felt close, but now he feels lost, hungry for God, and depressed. And in the middle of the song we get this intriguing line:

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

It’s not clear what ‘deep calls to deep’ means – it’s a metaphor. We are free to interpret it in different ways, but to me the psalmist sounds overwhelmed, drowned out, carried away.

I think about the phrase ‘deep calls to deep’ sometimes. It comes to mind when I’m by the sea, especially at night. Here is the dark depth of the sea below, and the black infinity of space above – depth in both directions, and here I am, so small in the middle.

There’s nothing quite like the ocean to make us feel tiny and insignificant – so vast and relentless and otherworldly.

Today is World Oceans Day. If you’re lucky enough to live by the sea, go and look at it today and see if you can hear the deep calling to the deep. What does it mean to you? How does it make you feel? Does the vastness of the ocean make you more aware of God or less aware of God?

If you haven’t got an ocean to stare into, step outside tonight and look up instead. We’ve all got a sky!

Come back and tell us what thoughts come to mind as you take a moment to listen to the depths.