I’ve said before that my walk with Christ has not always been a rythmic one. I might have started down this path at a nice jogging pace, but I have run the gamut from running to meet my Lord to sitting still in the middle of the road not sure if I could move at all.
I think many of us have periods of spiritual drought and we all need to know what to do when we’re unable to motivate ourselves. So, here’s my best advice:
1. Be patient. We may not be doing much, but God is always at work, and he will be able to use everything, including our times of thirst.
2. Trust in Him. We may think He’s not listening at all, but He is. He has a plan, He has promised us Living Water (John 7:38), and He is faithful to keep his promises.
3. Pick up your bible. God has two ways He communicates with us. One of them is the Scriptures. His story, and ours, is contained within it. And I can’t tell you how many times He has seemed to speak directly to my heart from the Bible.
4. Go outside. The other way God tends to communicate with us is through Creation. Spend some time in the garden, and the park. Take a hike if you can. Sit by a stream. Anything where you can see God’s creative spirit at work and be touched by it.
5. Pray. Prayer can start anywhere. And it doesn’t matter what the words are, it just matters that you’re communicating. We couldn’t have a really deep friendship with someone we never communicated with. We couldn’t have a good marriage if we never talked to our husbands. Likewise, we can’t have a truly close relationship with God if we don’t take some time and chat.
6. Find some silence if you can. Just as it’s important to talk to God and tell Him what we’re thinking about, worried about, and what’s on our minds, it’s also important to be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10) We can’t really give him a chance to speak to us if we don’t find some time to be quiet and listen.
7. Talk to a friend. We Christians all have these periods, and no one can sympathize better than someone who’s been there, done that. We are here to encourage and uplift one another. So, find someone you trust and share with them. They’ll be grateful when the tables are turned and they can talk to you, too.
Lastly, I think we have to take advantage of the times where we’re not struggling as hard with our faith. I realized that recently I’ve been jogging down the road again, crazy in love with the God who made me, and full of a desire to learn, to praise, and to engage in extravagant worship that can’t even begin to express how I feel or how awesome our Lord is. I think we need to take full advantage of times like these. It’s like filling canteens. We may not need all the water now, but it will quench our thirst when we feel we’re without. Of course, with God, we’re never really alone, we’re never really without, and we don’t have to carry the burdens all by ourselves.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
