Diving Into The Deep

I have a BONUS for you at the bottom.

When I was little, every summer, my mom signed me up for swim lessons. Year after year, as she would sign me up again, a feeling of dread would fall over me.

Diving In

I distinctly remember the moment I went from disliking the lessons to despising them. I climbed the hot metal steps of the diving board in my oversized metallic silver bathing suit. The water from my bangs blended seamlessly with my tears running down my face. The rough texture of the board pricked my feet as I inched closer to the end, where the instructor impatiently waited. Fear gripped me as I moved to where the board tipped down. I guess she realized I would not take the leap on my own, so she lifted me up under my arms and tossed me down to a poor man waiting below. I say poor man, because I am quite sure he still has an imprint of my tiny hands and fingernails on his neck from when he caught me.

It was a good seven years later that the memory faded enough for me to try diving at, you guessed it, more swimming lessons. I started in the crouched position on the side of the pool where you kind of roll in. I did this until I was brave enough to go off the diving board. After what seemed like hundreds of tries, I hit the perfect dive. I probably looked more like a seal sliding into the water, but in that glorious moment, it felt like an Olympic level dive.

Wisdom

I thought of this time when I began studying the mem מ, the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, with the value of 40. One definition of the mem מ means to dive into deep water. Another meaning is wisdom. Some scholars combine the two and say it is diving into God’s wisdom. I imagine it as saturating yourself with the wisdom of God.

Unlike being thrown into the water with fear and trepidation, like my initial experience, God desires for us to come, as I did with my perfect dive. I wanted to dive in. I practiced and prepared myself to jump in until I was ready to go in head first. Don’t you think this is how God wants us to approach Him? For us to come without hesitation, ready to take on whatever He gives us. Like Isaiah said, “Here I am God, send me.”

“Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me.’”

~Isaiah 6:8 NLT

Revelations From God

Once we dive in, we are in a place with God that the mem מ teaches, where the knowledge of God can freely flow into us. This is a unique place where we can receive revelations from God.

A little Hebrew tidbit. In the original Hebrew, there were no breaks in the words. This made it hard for knowing where one word stopped and another started. Later in the time of Ezra, dots and other marks were added for vowel sounds, and some letters received a second form. This helped the reader know where some words ended.

Mysteries Of God

The mem מ is one of the letters that takes on multiple forms. It looks like this מ if it is in the middle or beginning of a word, but it looks like this ם if it is at the end. These two forms make this letter that much more interesting. The form of the mem מ that you would see in the beginning or middle of a word, teaches us to be in a place where the knowledge of God can flow freely into us. In the final form ם, or the way it would look at the end of a word, is completely closed. The closed version represents the hidden knowledge or mysteries of God.

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one." Deuteronomy 29:29a NLT Share on X

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”

~Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT

Deuteronomy tells us we are only responsible for what He reveals to us. This is plenty of responsibility, but my human nature wants to know more. What are these mysteries? Will He reveal them this side of eternity? I believe the following scripture sums up the mem מ quite perfectly.

"The wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began." 1 Corinthians 2:7 NLT Share on X

“Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-8 NLT

It’s Time To Dive In

The more we grow in our faith, and the closer we draw to Him, the more He reveals of Himself to us. Dosen’t this make you want to do whatever it takes to be among the mature believers?

I encourage you to dive in, jump in, slide in like a seal, just get in. Soak up every aspect of wisdom He will impart to you. Move in His ways and follow His path. Draw close and let Him reveal His mysteries to you.

Dive Deeper

I have created another bonus for you to help you dive deeper into the mem מ. It includes a couple more scriptures, a prayer, questions, and guided journaling.

I love hearing from you.

If you have a moment, please leave a comment below, or email me under the contact tab at the top. Also, feel free to share.

Cultivate Wisdom

Click here to see these awesome guided journals. This one is focused on scriptures about wisdom.