Standing On The Shore
Si Hudson
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THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Did you know that more men have been to the moon than to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point of all the world’s oceans? You’re shocked, I know - I was too. 12 men have been on the surface of the moon. Only 3 have been to the deepest point on earth. One of these 3 men is James Cameron, the film director that brought us Titanic and Avatar.
Whilst watching a clip on YouTube from the documentary about the descent, it got me thinking; how often does the bible refer to the deepest depths? The answer is many. But very few are in a positive light.
This thought led to another thought, as thought journeys tend to do. Why do we say phrases like “we want to go deeper into You” and use oceans as analogies for a description of God’s grace when lots of the mention of depth is negative. My conclusion was this: because travelling on the waters is risky. We don’t know enough about them, or what lies beneath, and the unknown is scary.
It’s reckoned that humans have only explored 5% of the ocean floor. Good maths will tell you our exploration numbers are weak. But we’re probably in that low number percentage of exploring God’s grace and who He is. But probably more like 0.1% - and that’s generous. If we view God as an ocean on this basis, then we still have an awful lot of God to get to know. Well He is God, after all!
So I tried to start writing about God’s faithfulness, what it would mean to know God more, to obey God more, to live in freedom, to go deeper. It started around this phrase I had written a few weeks previous after a training day: “We don’t want to be standing on the shore, when there’s oceans of Your grace to explore.”
About the same time, I was reading through Exodus and came across this verse: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” (Exodus 33:11 NIV). That is the kind of relationship I want with Him. I want to go deeper, I want to take risks, I don’t want to be left on the shore, when there’s so much more going on, so much more to explore, so many more challenges to face. And this was the sentiment for the song. To be open to what God wants in my life, to know Him better to go deeper, I don’t want to be left behind.
It is risky… and we don’t know enough… and the unknown is scary… but let’s do it anyway!
Unearth a new song
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