Surviving the Dry Times - part 2

Psalm 42:4, These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” One of the things that can keep us going through the dry times and eventually bring us out on the other side is remembering the good times, the times when we knew God was working in our hearts.

Dry times are a good time for self-evaluation. Do we feel distant from the Lord because we are living in unrepentant sin? If so, we feel distant because we are distant! Isaiah 59:2 “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” If we have sin that we refuse to turn from it will damage our fellowship with God. Our relationship with the Lord stands secure through the cross of Christ. But the joy of intimate fellowship will be broken until we choose God over our sin!

BUT NOT ALL DRY TIMES ARE CAUSED BY SIN. Elijah experienced a horrendous time of spiritual darkness right after his tremendous victory over the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah had just prayed down fire from heaven followed by praying down rain after a 3 year drought. Then he is told that Queen Jezebel was going to kill him and the mighty man of God runs for his life (1 Kings 19:3)! He runs to wilderness and it interesting, I think, that God sends an angel to give him food and water two times. In this case, I believe we see that Elijah felt far from God because of spiritual exhaustion. The key point here is THERE ARE MANY CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL DRYNESS. It is not always the presence of sin in our lives. In fact, self delusion can fearfully cause a false sense of being alright with God even when we are living in sin.

God was not distant from Elijah in any sense when he ran from Jezebel. This man of faith who would later call down fire from heaven to destroy soldiers sent to arrest him not once, but twice, could have done so now. But in a state of emotional and spiritual exhaustion he panicked. I believe it is likely Elijah did not feel the presence of God in his life because of his exhaustion. Stress, pressure, the storms of life can produce spiritual dryness.

Spiritual neglect can lead to dry times. If we keep our Bibles closed, our knees unbent, or stay away from the house of God it will lead to dry times. And sometimes, I believe God allows dry times to work His purposes in our life.

But remember the times the hand of God was fresh on your life. Remember the times He has used you to bless others. And know that your Father not only wants to restore you to that wonderful place, He wants to deepen you so you can enjoy Him even more! Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Our loving Father fervently wants us to find deep joy and profound pleasure in Him! Yet sometimes He uses the dry times to deepen us, to cleanse us so that we can enjoy Him more.

This is why there are no “3 Easy Steps to Overcome Spiritual Dryness”. Sometimes we just have to hunker down and hold on and trust by Holy Spirit given faith that our Triune God is holding on to us and He will not, absolutely will not let us go no matter what our feelings may be crying out at the moment.