Spiritual Dryness and How to Get Going Again

Part 2: The Causes of Spiritual Dryness

There’s a moment in C.S. Lewis’ classic children’s book, The Silver Chair^[1], that always brings a lump to my throat.  A little girl, named Jill, alone in the forest, is desperately thirsty.  Lewis writes:

Crying is all right in its way, while it lasts. But you still have to stop sooner or later and then you still have to decide what to do.  When Jill stopped, she found that she was dreadfully thirsty.  She had been laying face downward and now she sat up.  The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small persistent sound, which seemed to come from a good distance away.  She listened carefully and felt almost sure it was the sound of running water.

Jill got up and looked around very carefully.  There was no sign of the lion; but there was so many trees about that it may easily be quite close without her seeing it.  For all she knew, there might be several lions.  But her thirst was very bad now and she plucked up her courage to go and look for that running water.

She went on tiptoes stealing cautiously from tree to tree, stopping to peer around it at every step.  She finally came to the site of the water that made her feel ten times thirstier than before.  But she didn't rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason: just on this side of the stream lay the lion.

It lay with its head raised and its two forepaws out in front of it like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her. Its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away as if it knew her quite well and didn't think much of her.

“If I run away, it will be after me,” thought Jill. “And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth.”  Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she had tried and she couldn't take her eyes off the lion.

How long this lasted she could not be sure. It seemed like hours and the thirst became so bad she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion, if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

“If you are thirsty, you may drink.”

For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again,

“If you are thirsty, come and drink.”

The voice was not like a man's.  It was deeper, wilder and stronger, a sort of heavy golden voice, that did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

“Are you not thirsty?” said the lion.

“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

“Then drink,” said the lion.

“May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

“Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

“I make no promise,” said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

“Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion.  It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

It never occurred to Jill to just believe the lion.  No one who had seen his stern face could do that.  And her mind suddenly made itself up.  It was the worst thing she ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand.  It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted.  You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.^[2]

Why are so many so spiritually dry?  Why, when living water is readily available to us, do so few step forward and drink?

A Cautionary Tale

In the aftermath of God’s decisive victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, the prophet, Elijah, God’s principle instrument in that conflict, is on the run.  I Kings 19 says,

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.  He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.  Then he went on alone into the desert, traveling all day.  He sat down under a solitary broom (or juniper) tree and prayed that he might die.  “I have had enough, Lord,” he said, “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”^[3]

“I’ve had enough?  Take my life?”  Elijah was obviously in a really bad place emotionally, spiritually.  In fact, that’s what makes this story so peculiar.  Three days earlier he was celebrating the miraculous intervention of God in one of the finest moments in the Old Testament.  He was, if you will, as high as a kite at church on Sunday and so depressed he wanted to die by Wednesday night.  He was, in effect, begging God to take his life.  How does this happen?  How does a man of God, who has experienced the dramatic intervention of God on his behalf, get so depressed and so far from God he wants to die?  Fear will do that to you.

Here are some other things that contribute to spiritual dryness.

(1)    Physical Exhaustion. Physical exhaustion is a common contributor to spiritual dryness.  Elijah had been traveling all day.  He was, no doubt, exhausted.  The condition of your physical body affects your mind and your emotions.  Exhaustion has a profound effect on our experience of God in prayer.  It’s hard to focus.  It’s hard to concentrate.  Exhaustion weakens your resolve.  If you wonder about the effects of physical exhaustion on your relationship with God think about what it does to your other relationships.  Physically exhausted people are usually cranky and impatient.  You may find them hard to get along with.  It’s hard to maintain an intimate relationship when you’re tired all the time.

How do you combat physical exhaustion?  Take a nap.  Go to bed early.  I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell you this^[4] but even I know the value of a good nap.  Several years ago, I arrived at the location of my annual prayer retreat at about one o’clock in the afternoon.  Excited, I settled in, opened my Bible and started to read.  Just as Jesus healed the man with the withered hand,^[5] I fell asleep.  I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  I was so relieved to be off the treadmill for a couple of days that the exhaustion overwhelmed me.  So I decided to start my prayer retreat with a nap.  Not a bad idea.  At six o’clock, I was wide awake and really ready to go.  Sometimes the best thing you can do for your spiritual life is get some sleep, recharge your batteries.

(2)    Empty Well Syndrome. Empty Well Syndrome is what happens when you give spiritually again and again because you believe God wants you to give but you never take the time to go back to the source and replenish your supply.  To use a metaphor from John 15, you get disconnected from the vine.  Soon, you find that you have nothing left to give, that you’re ministering out of an empty well.  You’ve spent everything you have and the need still remains.  In fact, the need far outstrip your ability to meet it.  What keeps you going when you’re literally running on fumes?  Pride, guilt, a sense of obligation or a combination of the three, if you’re honest.  The question you need to ask is, “Am I working for God more than I’m walking with God?”  If you’re working for God more than walking with God, you need to stop because you’re not doing anyone any favors. Service on fumes is a great contributor to spiritual dryness.

(3)    Problems and opposition. Problems and opposition can contribute to spiritual dryness.  Elijah is the classic example of how problems and opposition affect your spiritual vitality.  After the euphoria of Mount Carmel, we find the prophet running from Jezebel who has vowed to take his life.  In the passage quoted above, he’s huddled under a juniper bush wallowing in self-pity.  Here’s what problems and opposition can do.  They can cause you to...

• Feel sorry for yourself. In verse 4, Elijah says, “I am no better than my fathers.”  Problems have a way of making us see ourselves the way Satan would like us to see ourselves not the way God sees us.  Satan wants us to believe that we’re a lost cause, that we’re defective, dirty or unclean.  He’ll tell you that God has mistreated you, that he’s been unfair, that he’s abandoned you in your hour of need.  Satan is adept at magnifying your circumstances and minimizing your resources.  Believe his lies and it inevitably leads to self-pity.  And self-pity is a dark and troublesome thing.  In A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis referred to it as “the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it--that disgusts me.”  Problems and opposition can cause you to...

• Run from responsibility. When you have all kinds of problems and opposition you have a tendency to want to dump everything and walk away.  You may even be doing something that God wants you to do but you’re running into one obstacle after another.  People are talking behind your back, plotting your demise and you just want to say, “Who needs this?”  You want to drop the whole thing and go hide.  I’ve been tempted to walk away from a lot of situations in my life.  I’ve even done it once or twice.  But walking away didn’t change what God had called me to do.  In verse 9, the Lord looks at Elijah under the juniper bush and says, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Good question.  Elijah was where he was by choice.  Running or staying is a choice.  Problems and opposition can cause you to...

• Blame others for your predicament. Elijah says, in verse 10, “For the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets…and I alone am left.”  In other words, “It’s just me, God.  I’m the only one who’s faithful.  I’m the only one you can trust.  I’m all you have left.  I’m the only one who’s truly following you.”  That’s what spiritual dryness often sounds like.  When you’re dry, you tend to look at others and find them wanting.  Spiritually dry people are often very judgmental.  They see themselves as better and more deserving than anyone else.  Is that where you are?  You feel empty and far from God and it’s not your fault?  Somebody else is responsible?  They did it to you?  When you blame your spiritual predicament on others, when you see yourself as a victim of circumstances, when you refuse to take responsibility for where you are spiritually, you’re growing comfortable in the desert.  You say, “This is where I am.  I didn’t do this, God did this.  God let it happen.  It’s not my fault.”

(4)    The cycles of life.  You need to know about these cycles.  You have day cycles—times in the day when you’re more receptive to God and less receptive to God.  I’m less receptive in the morning and more receptive at night, even late at night.  Age is a cycle.  You may be more receptive at different times in your life than you are at other times.  I’m much more receptive now than I was in my twenties.  I guess it’s just the wisdom of age^[6] but I wouldn’t trade my relationship and experience of God now for my relationship and experience of God at that time in my life.  I turned 50 this year and I know what you’re thinking -- my bio pic makes me look 10 years younger!^[7] Advancing age can have an affect on you spiritually.  George Burns said: “You know you’re old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and you ask yourself, ‘What else can I do while I’m down here.’”  These cycles of life don’t have to depress you or take you down or cool your passion for God.  Caleb was eighty years old and he said, “give me that mountain.”  Daniel was in his nineties when he entered the lion’s den.  Abraham was one hundred years old when God blessed him with a son.  Noah was six hundred years old when he built the ark.  Cycles are a part of life.  Here are four cycles that directly contribute to spiritual dryness.

• Transitions in your life. When you are going through a lot of change it can cause spiritual dryness.
• Pressure and stress. Ever heard of that?  Even holidays as joy-filled as Christmas can be stressful.
• Mt. Carmel Meltdown. When you’ve had a big spiritual experience, maybe you’ve gone to some conference where God really spoke to you or you just got back from a three day prayer retreat—the in-between times, the so-called “valleys” can get you down and cause you to become spiritually dry.
• Mood cycles. That’s all I’m going to say about that.^[8]

(5)    Disobedience. I think that this may be the number one cause of spiritual dryness -- just plain disobedience.  When you are engaged in willful, habitual sin, it’s not uncommon to feel far from God.  This may sound obvious to some but you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve talked to who seem incapable of making the connection.  They want to know why their spiritual life isn’t thriving while, at the same time, they’re holding onto bitterness, are unwilling to forgive, are immersed in a life-controlling habit or are at odds with the people they say they love the most.

No Other Way

Back to Jill. What prevented her, as thirsty as she was, from rushing forward to drink?  Fear.  She was afraid of the lion, afraid of what he might do to her, afraid of the unknown.  She didn’t know him well enough, didn’t trust his character, wasn’t willing to risk it.  In the end, her thirst overcame her fear.  I wonder what it’s going to take for some of us?

Author and pastor, John Piper, frequently says that the problem in our lives is not that we want too much out of life.  It's that we’re satisfied with so little.  We’re regularly trying to quench our thirst with stuff that only increases our thirst, stuff that only increases our sense of emptiness.  To drink deeply you have to come to Jesus.  The streams of God are channeled through Jesus.  Not through another person.  Not through a relationship.  Not through material goods.  Only Jesus!  There is no other stream!  Only the one that runs through the Lion of Judah can satisfy.   Only the one that forces you to risk everything is really worth having.  If you’re ever going to get going again, you have to press in.  There is no other way.

Next -- Part 3:  The Cure for Spiritual Dryness