Floating in God’s World

A few weeks ago, I had my first experience floating in magnesium infused water. Enclosed in a softly lit pod containing this liquid, I was simultaneously also immersed in gentle flute music playing from an underwater speaker. Appropriate low, colorful lighting completed the atmosphere. The way the magnesium caused my body to float on the water reminded me of my experience at the Dead Sea decades ago. (The minerals in that body of water similarly keep one from even being able to sink.)

The spa personnel had made available a little foam circlet for positioning my head so that there would be no danger of getting water in my mouth or nose. Neglecting nothing, they had also provided earplugs. The resulting sensation of safety, tranquility, and weightlessness was so relaxing that I fell asleep, floating on the water.

A few days prior to this floating nap, I had received a dream from the Lord during the night. It, too, featured imagery of floating on water. I had entitled it, “Stay Buoyant” in my dream notes. I did not know, when I had that dream, that I would soon be afforded the magnesium pod opportunity. Between the two events, Holy Spirit was arranging a sensory experience that gave me another glimpse into how things work in the spiritual realm. So often, moments that we walk through in the physical world give us insights into spiritual realities, if we have ears to lean in and listen to what Holy Spirit wants to teach us.

That afternoon at the spa, I had initially hoped to listen to a favorite playlist while I was floating in the water. I turned my preferred selection to full volume on my cell phone and set it next to the pod. Once my ears went into the water, though, I could not hear my own music. What I could hear instead was the beautiful flute composition playing under the water.

Holy Spirit spoke to me about this. He pointed out that what I had just seen and felt is what it is like when we tune our senses into the spiritual realm. I could make a choice to keep my head out of the water completely and listen to my own music. Doing so would require sitting up in the water instead of floating in it. Or… I could allow myself to let go, lie back, float weightlessly on that water, submerge my ears into it, and listen to the sounds happening within.

In the same way, we have a choice to make. We can either tune our ears to the sounds of the natural world, the circumstances around us, and our own preoccupations. Or, we can lean back into God, surrendering ourselves to a yielded position of trust represented by floating on the water. In Scripture, water is one of the main symbols of the Holy Spirit. We can relinquish our own programmed preferences and submerge our ears into His presence.

When I surrendered to the water and began to listen to the music playing underneath the surface, it was one of the most restful experiences of my life. In the same way, when we surrender and tune into the world of the Spirit, He has rest for our souls. The sounds that He wants to communicate to us are far superior to the messaging of the natural world to which we are accustomed.

Do you remember, on occasions when you have been swimming, how it is when you go under the water? You no longer hear the sounds of the world outside of the water. You feel light, with nothing weighing you down. We find a picture like that in Ezekiel chapter 47, where the prophet is shown a river. God’s messenger invites him to go deeper and deeper into the water, until he is completely submerged. Ezekiel describes it as “a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through” (v. 5).

This is God‘s invitation to us. He doesn’t want us to stay just ankle deep in the waters of the Holy Spirit. He wants to take us to the place where we are completely immersed and surrendered. His is a whole different world. Entering in there is where we can hear His still, small voice that imparts vitality. Where the Ezekiel 47 river flowed, everything came to life. When we learn to live immersed in God‘s world, tuned into the reality of the Spirit, we get to abide in the realm where everything is vibrantly alive. This is what Jesus was communicating to us when He said invitingly, “Remain in Me, and I in you” (John 15:4).

Today, let’s choose to respond to His beckoning; to let go, to listen, and to yield ourselves to buoyancy, life, and rest in the river of His Spirit. When we do, this is His unbreakable promise: “The one who abides in Me will bear much fruit. Apart from Me, you can do nothing” (v. 5).

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What is it like when you surrender yourself to submersion in Holy Spirit’s living waters? How would you describe your experiences of this?