Paul had seen the risen Christ, planted churches, and written much of the New Testament. Yet writing from chains, he still prayed, "That I may know him."
A person of depth is not someone who has arrived. It's someone who is still hungry. Today I want to show you where that kind of depth actually grows.
It grows underground.
Depth Is a Root System
Jeremiah describes the person who trusts the LORD. "For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river."
Nobody walks through an orchard admiring the roots. You see leaves and fruit. But the part of the tree that decides whether it survives is the part nobody sees.
Your spiritual life works the same way. People see your Sunday. God sees your roots.
Drought Reveals Depth
Look at the rest of Jeremiah's promise. That tree "shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."
Notice it doesn't say the drought never comes. It says the tree doesn't panic when it does. Shallow roots look fine in spring. Deep roots are proven in August.
The hard season doesn't create your depth. It reveals it.
That's why you can't wait for the storm to start going deep. By then you're living off whatever roots you already have.
Dig Before the Flood
Jesus told a story about two builders. The wise one "built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it."
Digging is slow, unseen work. It's dirty. It doesn't look like progress, and for a long time the man digging has less to show than the man who skipped it.
Then the flood comes, and everything that was hidden becomes obvious.
Every unhurried morning in the Word is a shovel in the ground. Every honest prayer goes down another foot. You are building something today that you will be standing on later.
Rooted in Him, Not in Effort
Paul gives the pattern in Colossians. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith."
You received Christ by faith, not effort. You go deeper the same way. Roots don't strain to grow. They reach toward water.
So depth isn't about becoming more impressive. It's about staying near the river.
Paul says that rooted life ends up "abounding therein with thanksgiving." Deep people aren't grim. They overflow.
Depth Grows by Knowing Him
Come back to Paul's prayer. He wanted to know "the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings."
He wanted Jesus in the victories and Jesus in the valleys. That's what roots do. They go down through the good soil and the rocky soil alike, and they keep reaching for water.
Shallow faith wants Jesus for what He gives. Deep faith wants Jesus for who He is.
Tomorrow at the altar you'll have a chance to lay down whatever keeps you on the surface. Today, just reach for the water.
The deep is calling. Start digging.
Today's Challenge
Pick one passage, Jeremiah 17:7-8, and read it slowly three times today. Then spend ten unhurried minutes with no phone, asking God to show you one place your roots are shallow. Write down what He shows you and one small, hidden step you'll take this week to dig deeper.
5 Around
Deep roots strengthen the trees around them.
So today, send this devotional to five people, one at a time. Not a mass post or a group chat. Five people, five individual messages, each with a line about why you thought of them.
Think of someone walking through a dry season right now. Someone who looks fine on the outside but feels shallow on the inside. Someone who wants more of God and doesn't know where to start.
You might text: "I read this today about how depth grows underground before the storms come. You came to mind. Want to go deeper together?"
Prayer
Father, I want more than a faith that looks good in spring. Jesus, I want to know You, in the power of Your resurrection and in the fellowship of Your sufferings. Holy Spirit, send my roots down deep by the river. Make me green in the heat and fruitful in the drought. Keep me reaching for You. In Jesus' name, amen.
Reflection
- If a drought hit my life this month, what roots would I be living on?
- Where am I trying to look fruitful without going deep?
- What is one hidden, unseen practice that would put my roots closer to the river?