Son of man, have you seen this? Then he led me back to the bank of the river.”(Ezekiel 47:6).
Perhaps you recently saw Rory McIlroy, ankle-deep in water on the bank of the 16th green at PGA National, trying to hit a wayward ball on the green.
I was reminded of God’s message in Ezekiel 47:1-12.
God showed Ezekiel a stream flowing from the temple. There was a man standing, like Rory, in the ankle-deep river. The water got deeper—knee-deep, then waist-deep, and finally so deep that the man in the vision had to swim to the other side. The point was clear.
We can dip our toes into the Kingdom of God. Or we can wade in up to our knees, maybe even waist-deep. But all the way under?
As Lettie Cowman said in her 1926 classic devotional, “We are able to have as much of God as we want.” (Streams in the Desert, Feb 20).
I recently hired a personal trainer and embarked on a 90-day journey to get in shape to walk 54 holes in one day for my charity fundraiser. The routine was simple.
The first ten minutes were a ‘warm-up.’ The next forty minutes were the real ‘workout.’ And the last ten were the stretching and ‘cool-down.’ I quickly realized that in the past, I have gone to the gym and just done a ‘warm-up’ and maybe some ‘cool-down.’
Ten or fifteen minutes was about it for me, and I literally would tell people that I “worked out this morning.” What a joke.
So, how much time do we spend with God each day? He would like a minimum of a full one-hour workout, followed by a daily walk. We often just do a warm-up. Ten minutes, and off we go to work or play, leaving the Creator of the universe to wonder why we don’t want more of Him.
Are we ankle-deep, maybe knee- or waist-deep, or are we swimming in the deep flow of the Spirit?
Ezekiel 47 poetically describes the results of swimming in this deep river of healing.
One, fruitful trees are abundant along God’s deep river.
“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12 ESV).
Second, fish of all kinds are harvested in the deep waters. There are no fish in ankle-deep water, a few small fish in knee-deep water, and a handful of fish in waist-deep water. The big fish swim in the deep streams where we should fish for men.
“Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi (PGA West) to Eneglaim (PGA National) it will be a place to spread nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.” (Ezekiel 47:10).
Indeed, country clubs are where big fish swim. Are we swimming with them? Are we fishing for men, like Jesus commands? Or are we ankle-deep in a shallow version of country club faith that bears no fruit and catches no fish?
We get to decide. “We are able to have as much of God as we want.”
Prayer: Oh God, We want to go deep… over our heads. We will not be satisfied with a shallow, ankle-deep version of your Kingdom. Help us, we pray. Amen.