Deep calls to Deep

 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me. Psalm 42:7 NIV

Speaking up for those who have no voice

for those who suffer in silence, in darkness, in obscurity

for those who have heard the lying words saying 'you are just an accident'
a random occurrence
you were not wanted
you are not important
no one cares for you
your life is not significant
 it would be better off without you
no one wants you
no one even notices you
no one even cares

you are meaningless and insignificant


God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made
created to know and love me
perfectly fashioned to flourish in my love
to display my  wonders and glory
to dwell in my depths

you are no accident
you have value and meaning because of me
it matters little what others think or say
it matters what I think and say

I am God that
I created light out of darkness
life out of void
meaning our of purposelessness

come know me

Come pour out your suffering, your agony, your pain your confusion, your questions
I am here
I care for you
I am listening

"We will tell others that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still" 
said by Betsie Ten Boom in the Ravensbruk concentration camp under the power of the Nazis
"They will believe us because we were here!"  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Love speaks out
to those who are reeling from the effects of unspeakable violence
to those who have had their voice taken away before it was even formed
to those who have had taken from them what they did not even know they had yet
to those who suffer from unthinkable cruelty
to those who see no hope of any kind
to those who cry, how can there be a loving God who has the power wisdom and ability to change __________ and yet did not intervene
did not prevent
why was I not spared this horrible life shattering experience?

I do not know
we cannot answer
but the same one we accuse

God says

I did not spare my own son
I did not spare myself
I gave him to suffer
I gave him to those who were cruel, heartless, intent on murdering the innocent to save themselves

I did not intervene

Christ Jesus suffered for sins once for all 

the just for the unjust, that he might bring us back to God. I Peter 3:18

He who spared not his own son,

 but freely gave him up  for us, How shall he not freely give us all things? Romans 8:32

a God that we could understand would be too small to meet our needs (unknown source)

deep need
I believe God is love
I also know horrible things happen
inexplicable
unspeakable
incredible
seemingly random, entirely avoidable, many times apparently meaningless
we are all helpless really to keep our own lives from harm, suffering, loss
totally helpless to keep those we love

we need the deep of God in the depths of our need

for those whose voices have been silenced by violence
some even before they had a voice

there is more than this life
there is more than we see and know

the depths of God
God hears the voice of those who cry out
of those we can no longer hear
they are not hidden from God

God is just
God is justice
God is truth
there is nothing hidden from him
there is nothing that can be excused, denied or avoided before him
He does not forget
no matter how much time has passed

For our God is a consuming fire Hebrews 12:29

mercy and truth together
there is a coming day
when all that is now murky and obscure will be completely revealed
every hidden thing
all will be exposed for what it truly is
brought into the light of his perfect light and truth and justice and mercy

and the truth is that we all need mercy

this life is not all that there is
there is more than we can see or know

there is always God
God who so loved

God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that anyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.¹¹ Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.Psalm 85 :11 KJV

only God can do this!
mercy and truth together

A perpetual fountain 
What is there that is certain and unchanging?
What treasure can never be stolen away, or corrupted

That can never be taken away
can never change
a continual fountain of 

hope,

mercy,

love,

truth, 

power, 

resource, 

wisdom 

anything else I so desperately need

Deep calls to Deep

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you... James 4:8

what can I do?

know God

let this change everything
live in truth and love empowered by the Holy Spirit

see and treat all persons
as precious and valuable
because of Him
worthy of dignity and respect
consideration and compassion
truth and mercy

42 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”

⁴ When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.^[c]

⁶ O my God,^[d] my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From the Hill Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
⁸ The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a breaking of my bones,
My enemies reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 42:1 Hebrew Maschil
2. Psalm 42:2 Following Masoretic Text and Vulgate; some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, and Targum read I see the face of God.
3. Psalm 42:5 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; a few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read The help of my countenance, my God.
4. Psalm 42:6 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; a few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate put my God at the end of verse 5.