Diving from the shallows to the depths of Scripture
In 2020, I started a blog. I posted roughly three times a week on topics ranging from music to social issues to what I was currently studying in the Bible, but it was too much. I quickly burned out. In my time away from writing, I have worked on some new things and grown in my knowledge of the God who saved me and leads me. By late 2024, I’ve been through the blessings of the promised land, lost them, and now journey through a wilderness where God has worked in me to deepen my faith, affirm my trust, and prepare me for what is to come. The Lord has given me commands and promised me His goodness, but I have not seen them come to fruition yet.
In all this, from heartbreak and despair to peace that surpasses my understanding, I feel as though I have been dragged into the ocean. Where I was once treading water in the shallows, I have been dragged by the riptide out to sea, through the currents, and into the depths. And it is this that has inspired this rebrand and restart of blogging activities. Out here in the depths, I have been drowned over and over again, but the Lord is good to sustain even when I have cried out as Elijah did, wishing to die.
So my heart in this, my desire, my motivation, my goal as commanded by the Spirit in edifying the Body of Christ’s bride, is to exercise the gifts given to me to teach and spread knowledge and wisdom as best I can. In that vein, I would like to offer a smoother ride in the Father’s will than I took. My hope is that I can teach what I have learned without the rigmarole of pain, sorrow, and desperation I experienced and am still wading through. So come with me through the Fathoms of the Word!
Interestingly, when we speak colloquially of a fathom, we’re almost always talking about a great depth. The phrase, “I can’t fathom…” is indicative of a topic so broad and so deep that the speaker couldn’t possibly grasp it. Yet, a fathom is actually a relatively small unit of measurement: six feet. Six feet is taller than the average human. It’s about halfway between the depths of the shallow and deep ends of a standard pool. A fathom of water isn’t even deep enough to safely dive into. Most waves on the east coast beaches I have visited my whole life, as they crest and crash onto the shore, aren’t even a fathom deep. That’s where Fathoms of the Word came from.
I think believers approach the Bible interestingly in that there’s either so much focus on the shallows that the depths are never approached, or the easy, shallow things are ignored for a deeper knowledge. Both of these approaches to Scripture border on the heretical beliefs Paul often combated in his day, from Gnosticism to Hedonism. We’d probably refer to the latter of those as seeker-sensitive or prosperity gospel nowadays. My goal, then, is to show all the Fathoms contained in Scripture, leaving no wave unbroken and no current unexplored. I’ll take you from the shallows to the depths, on riptides and currents, and when all is said and done, I hope we all grow into runners of endurance, taking knowledge and wisdom and turning them to obedience because we all want to hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
I have attempted to divide the content I expect to post into five categories, which you can read about below. You can also check out the blog using the Blog button or by navigating to the Fathoms tab. Read, learn, and be edified!
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Fathoms
The Fathom of Shallows
The shallows are the basics of Christian life: the simple things. My goal is to keep these as practical and straightforward as possible. There’s so much simplicity in following Christ that it can sometimes be boiled down to Jesus’s description of the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind… Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-38).
The Fathom of Currents
Currents are not simply about the current beliefs of the world and the Church, although they can be. Rather, I desire to explore the things that exist under the cycles of this world, people, and faith. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “Nothing is new under the sun.” So by looking back at what was before, we can better navigate what lies ahead of us, even as God commanded His people to tell of their crossing over the Jordan—and many other situations besides—to their children and grandchildren so they could remember the faithfulness of God when they, too, faced a great trial.
The Fathom of Depths
The depths are the deep things of God that the Spirit searches out (1 Corinthians 2:10). This is more than just the practicality of the Christian life. Here, I want to connect Scripture to itself and bear out the reasoning behind God’s commands. For it’s not just the actions that must follow Christ but the reasoning of the heart, mind, and soul that must be transformed into His likeness (Romans 12:2).
The Fathom of Riptides
Sometimes, things change rapidly and knock us off our feet. Then they drag us under until we can’t breathe. Especially in today’s world, as stances and beliefs change as rapidly as posts on social media can go viral, these dangerous surges are even more prevalent. When I see these things come up, I’ll address them with Scripture to the best of my ability. And ask questions; it’s a big world, and I miss things!
The Fathom of Waves
Questions are interesting. Sometimes we see them coming from a mile away, prepare for them, and have an answer ready to go when they crash over us. But sometimes they come out of nowhere like a sneaker wave and swamp our ships. My goal is to answer enough questions to the best of my ability such to limit the number of sneaker waves sinking believers.
“All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”