Out of the Shallows
Out of the Shallows
There’s a river that flows past our old farm back in Maryland. The Patapsco meanders past fields and woods, parallels a railroad track, and eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay.
As a little girl, I used to relish lazy, hazy summer afternoons on the banks of the Patapsco. While my sisters swam, I would wade and splash in the shallows, the cuffs of my pants rolled up past my ankles.
Not once did I venture out into the deep, unknown parts of the river. After all, I was awfully little—and that river was very big.
Yet I envied my sisters who were big enough to dive into the deep parts—places where they could swim and not even touch bottom. To me, my sisters seemed incredibly privileged.
How about you? Are you the sort of person who plays it safe, content with just getting your ankles wet? Or are you the adventurous sort who prefers to get in over your head?
I like to think of this Christian journey of ours as a river. A river of life. As I see it, the shallow places are the common habitat for all believers—the kind of faith and joy and hope we all take part in.
But there is a deeper realm of conscious union with Christ which is far from commonplace.
All believers see Christ. But not all put their fingers into the prints of His nails.
Not all believers put their hand in His side. Not everyone has the high privilege of John to lean upon Jesus … nor of Paul to be caught up into a third heaven.
It is rare to find believers who live so outrageously for Christ that they leave the shallow places behind and dive into the free-flowing current.
“Most Christians are only up to their ankles in the river of life,” wrote Spurgeon. “But few find life a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch.”
It’s a risky, wonderful place to be—out in those dark, inscrutable regions where you can’t touch bottom no matter how deep you seem to dive. God invites us away from the safety of the bank, away from the measured security of the wading pools where the Christian life is almost easy.
You and I may begin in the shallows. But if we take God at His invitation, we dive deeper. Where we stop, no one has yet discovered … for there in the awful and mysterious depths of God there is neither limit nor border nor end.