"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." - Psalm 42:5-8 ESV
The Hebrew word translated as waterfalls here is tsinnuwr (Strong's H6794). In the KJV it reads waterspouts. It could describe a tornado touching down on the water and drawing the water from the ocean into the sky or water roaring as it falls and mingles into the water below.
If you have ever stood next to a sizable waterfall you know how loud it is. A tornado sounds like a freight train is roaring right past you when you are close to one. It is almost deafening. This speaks of a sound that overwhelms our senses or waves that buffet us so that we can't keep our footed and we must hold our breadth as they come in to survive.
At times God's grace voice must overwhelm our inner voice. We construct these complex rational structures but God wants the water to flow so He floods us with grace so deefening that we stop listening to ourselves.
This has happened to me in worship. I go away. I enter in the music and participate with all rest of creation and celebrate my creator. Work problems don't exist. How I look in the mirror is far away. I have no past. There is only worship.
It has happened to me when I have heard a message preached by a man of understanding who was anointed by God to deliver that message. The water of God's word was so forceful that I was overwhelmed and brought into the thinking environment that was being presented to me. Jesus didn't die 2,000 years ago on a cross. It was happening right in the moment as it was being described and the waters of it pounded me and life poured into me as life drained out of Him for my sake.
"The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out." - Proverbs 20:5 ESV
Are you cast down? God wants to draw the poison out of your soul and pour His life into you. Your inner recriminations must be silenced and replaced by grace thoughts. Speak grace to yourself. Be around people who speak grace.
Sometimes silence is the worst thing for us because we need to hear words from God. There needs to be an exchange of life. Two friends who don't speak can grow distant from one another because one, or both, of them are speaking the wrong things to themselves.
Sometimes we all need peace and quiet but we also need the place that deafens our inner voice and replaces it with God's noise and God's mind. A balance of both is a healthy thing.
God loves you without conditions because all the strict conditions were already met by His Son. I pray that God overwhelms you with this concept this weekend or one day very soon.
It is wonderfully refreshing when the fresh water from the waterfalls fills our pool and displaces what was there. Life can happen in that noisy flow.
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