I was saddened this morning to wake to the news about the discovery of the Oceangate submersible near the site of the Titanic and its catastrophic implosion which killed everyone on board. I, like a lot of people, was hoping for an Apollo 13 kind of situation where, against impossible odds, the crew would be saved by a small group of plucky scientists.
There are already recriminations starting. The company is being blamed for using sub-standard design for the craft and not having enough contingencies for disaster – rather like the Titanic itself. All of this has convinced me that I don’t think I’m cut out for deep sea exploration. And in that, I’m in good company with the people who wrote the Bible.
When the ancient people in and around Israel wanted to reach for the most terrifying image they could imagine, they’d talk about being taken to the depths, by which they meant deep below the ocean’s surface. It was an image that they then took up and used as a metaphor for seasons of intense hopelessness or crisis moments of darkness and fear.
Why was it so scary for them? Across the ancient world, most of the nations believed that their gods were the gods of their own geographical areas. So, Canberra would have a set of gods and Queanbeyan would have a set of gods and Yass would have a set of gods. But those gods were only gods of their land area. If you found yourself on a boat in a storm, you’d scream out to your gods like a person holding up their phone to frantically get some bars of service.
Like children trying to talk to each other underwater in a pool, to be taken below the depths was to go to a place where no one (god or otherwise) can hear and understand you. It’s a place where darkness and disorientation reigns.
This is why Jonah’s prayer from inside the belly of the beast in chapter 2 of his book is so surprising. From there in the dark and the dank, from the terror of the state between life and death Jonah begins,
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.” (Jonah 2:1)
For many of us, we assume that when we’re in those kinds of situations, those are the moments when God is not listening. They’re the times when we feel we’re on our own and abandoned by God. But Jonah draws exactly the opposite conclusion. He says effectively, “I’m at the bottom and you’re right here with me.” He draws the conclusion that it’s in those moments God is closest and most attentive.
It’s impossible at this stage, and perhaps ever, to know how long the people on board the vessel had between knowing there was a problem and the waters rushing in. I hope they had a moment to cry out to the Lord. The consoling news is, if they did, he would have heard it. As Psalm 139 reminds us, there is nowhere we can run from his Spirit. If our bed is made in the depths, he is still there.
grace and peace,
Steve