The Deeper Well

The following insight is from my Dad's journal. He wrote it in the midst of a deep, 18 month depression. Though I am committed to posting my own thoughts on "the Broken Place," I thought this fit so well that I couldn't pass it up. All praise be to our Abba, the digger of deeper wells! -Joe

When God wants to dig a well deeper in a man’s soul, when he digs the existing shaft to make it go deeper and to enlarge it’s capacity to produce more, it requires digging in dirt and mud. During the time the shaft is being dug deeper, the springs are muddied; the water is no longer clear and fresh. The refreshment and enjoyment of the water is delayed. Thirst increases.

Sediment, stirred by the process, makes the water murky, torpid. Digging goes through layers— soft silt, sticky clay, hard rock. Some materials are easily removed, others require drills and dynamite. The deepening process is messy, arduous. In time it is completed. The waters settle, gradually clear, and at last become available to quench thirsts. The mess of digging is quickly forgotten in the freshness of the powerful new flow! What never could have been provided from the shallow well now pours forth generously from the deeper one.

Until that day comes in my life, dig on Lord!