“Angel on My Mind” is an episode of Charlie’s Angels (I’m a child of the 80s!) where Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd) is suffering from amnesia after getting hit by a car. Kris walks away from the hit-and-run, ends up in a taxi, and gets out of the moving cab as the driver drives by the beach. Kris has a connection to the beach, which you see in flashbacks she has, and her subconscious leads her there. I remember watching this episode when I was younger and my mom saying, “That’s where you would go if you got amnesia. You would find your way to the beach.” She was right. I love the beach. I always have.
The sound of ocean waves is soothing, playing in the waves is thrilling, and watching the waves is thought provoking. Have you ever looked out at the horizon while standing on the shore and wondered how much marine life there is in those waters, or what it would be like to get stuck out at sea? Have you ever wondered how deep the ocean is? I looked it up once. The ocean is just under seven miles deep at some points. Can you imagine?! If you were to run an average ten-minute mile, started at the top of the water, had the capacity to breath under water, and ran to the bottom of the ocean, it would take you over an hour!
And just think, God took all of the seas (used in Scripture to represent chaos) and gave them boundaries. He told them – You can come this far and no further (Job 38:11). I know the moon controls the tides (by God’s design), but ultimately, he controls the chaos. The moon is his. He placed it in the sky to control the chaos of his waters. I can’t help but think of this truth every time I’m at the beach. I can’t help but think of how one day I will swim in his harmonious waters, unfazed by the shark, jellyfish, stingrays, and crabs. (Revelation 21:1 mentions there will be no sea in heaven, but allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, looking at the other references to the ‘sea’ in God’s Word, we understand Revelation 21:1 to mean there will be no more chaos in heaven.) No more chaos in nature, in relationships, in our thoughts, or in any aspect of life.
In Psalm 42, the psalmist is in emotional turmoil. He uses the chaos of God’s waters as an analogy to the unrest of his own heart. In verse 7, he writes –
Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
I love body surfing waves. It’s both fun and terrifying. As a kid, I just experienced the fun part. Now as a mom, I understand more of the terror as I’m out in the ocean with my children. I’ll be laughing with my boys as we throw ourselves into waves to ride them (the fun part) all while praying constantly they have no encounters with sea creatures (the terrifying part). We’ll catch a wave together (the fun), yet I’m watching them in the currents to make sure they’re not overwhelmed (the terror). Water is beautiful and a force. The psalmist understands that. He speaks of his soul being in a state of unrest, in a place of turmoil. And, he compares it to being in the waves of God’s waters.
The meaning of “deep calls to deep” is unknown, but here is what I think it means. In the midst of chaos, God is present calling out to us. He is depth, and he calls us to places of depth, and isn’t it interesting that most of the times he calls us to depth is when we’re in hard, chaotic places.
I learned about chiastic structures in Scripture from Dr. Bruce Waltke, one of my seminary professors. This grammatical structure in Scripture (where what is spoken of in verses is then repeated in reverse order) helps you understand the point of the passage. If you look at all of Psalm 42, you’ll see verse 11 repeats verse 5 verbatim. Verses 9-10 repeat in reverse order the cry in verses 3-4. (The taunting from the psalmist’s adversaries in v.3 is repeated in v.10 and the pouring out of his soul in v.4 is repeated in v.9.) Then, verse 8 repeats the thought of verse 2, which leaves us with verse 7 (deep calls to deep) and verse 1 (as a deer pants for water) and verse 6, the crux of the psalm.
The point of the psalm (verse 6) is to remember God when we are downcast. Remember his goodness and faithfulness. Remember how he delivers us from turmoil. (In my experience, it takes time, but he does deliver.) And, the meaning of “deep calls to deep” in verse 7 I believe is found in verse 1 . . .
God in his depth is calling out to us, and we in turn must pant for him. As a deer breathes for being quenched by flowing streams of water, so my soul breathes for you, Lord. My downcast soul with the waves of turmoil breaking over me will pant for you. You will call to me, and I will respond. (The psalmist assigns the breakers and waves to the Lord by calling them his in v.7, which reminds me of God’s sovereignty in the chaos of our lives and the unrest of our souls. No wonder the psalmist repeats in verses 5 and 11 to “hope in God” in the midst of the turmoil. He is sovereign.)
Whatever hardship you are going through, God is present calling you to him. Breathe for him. Pant for him, and in the coming kingdom when all the chaos of sin is no more, I’ll meet you at the beach, and we’ll play unencumbered in the waves. No more turmoil. No more unrest. No more sin. No more sea creatures that bite or sting. Lord Jesus, please return. Until then, take my unrest, take my soul, let me hope in you, let me remember you.