Deep and Wide; How deep do you want to go with God?

Here we are in the middle of summer and with that comes VBS.  Every church sign I see is an advertisement for their upcoming Vacation Bible School.  When I was a little girl, my favorite part of VBS was the singing, especially the songs with signs.  It makes me think of the old children’s song “Deep and Wide”.  Do you remember it?  “Deep and Wide, Deep and Wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.”  We would move our hands up and out for the depth and width of this fountain.  Even today, thinking about it makes me feel warm inside.   Although it taught me about the love of God, I did not understand the depth of it.

Last week, I talked about my Aldersgate’s experience and how I felt like “I just got dunked in the water of the living God.”  One of the things I realized last weekend was that I cannot fathom the depth of God Himself, nor His love for us.  No matter how deep I go with God, God is always right there ready to go deeper, to show me more of who God is and who God is in me.  God is a deep and wide God.  I, on the other hand, continue to put God in a box and operate from those parameters.  But God cannot be boxed in.  I experienced a depth of God last weekend that is hard to even put into words.  I went to Lake Junaluska looking for God, and God is what I found.  The further I went the more I got.  We can never get to the end of God.  Psalm 147:5 NIV reads, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”  Isaiah 40:28 NIV  says, “Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” 

Last week, I went and met with God.  I went to find God but instead God found me.  God was waiting on me there.  God had orchestrated the entire weekend, every message, every encounter, every prayer, just for me.  Ironically, I walked up to a woman and said excitedly, “that message for just for me, it was exactly what I needed to hear. ”  Her response startled me, as she said, “me too.”  It makes me giggle now.  God is so big.  And just like God was speaking and dealing with me on a very personal level, God was speaking to others too, on that same intimate level.  Oh, God is so good.  “His ways are far beyond anything we could ever imagine.” 

I don’t have to search for God.  God is searching for me.  God has been looking for me all along.  And God has been looking for you too.  God will meet you wherever you are.  You can dip your toe in at the water’s edge or plunge right in.  It does not matter with God.  The point is to go and meet with God because God has been waiting on you.  And the only thing that determines the depth is me.  How far do I want to go with God?  If ever I felt far away from God, it wasn’t God that left or moved away.  It was me.  Funny thing, if I would just turn around, there God is.  Right there in my face, waiting on me.  I don’t know where you are with God today but I would encourage you to go just a little further.  God is there and God is ready to go with you.    

Pray this with me:  Our great big mighty God, thank you for loving me wherever I am.  Thank you for always being right there waiting on me no matter when I come.  Thank you that you are a personal and intimate God .  And thank you that  your love for me is deep and wide.   I want to know you more Dear Lord.  I want to go deeper with you.  Show me the way.  In Jesus name, Amen. 

ps – you know I love to hear from you, feel free to leave a comment below or click over to my prayer page for any prayer requests you might have.  -M