(Reading Time: 6:30) It’s hard when you are in ministry and you go through a dry place. It definitely affects your preaching ministry and the few hours after you have delivered a message. However, after several years of ministry, I know what to do. First, I continue to do what I know to be right. Second, I continue to do the last thing the Lord showed me. Third, I continue to seek him, but not keep questioning him.
We should not keep second-guessing ourselves whenever we are not receiving a fresh word every day. God is still at work. Yet, sometimes we begin to doubt our direction when we haven’t heard something new for awhile. We tend to think maybe we have strayed off the path or maybe the last thing we thought was from the Lord was just an idea born in our own heads.
One thing I have found in my relationship with the Lord is, he understands my need for constant confirmation. Part of this is because I am always surprised that the God of the universe would even speak to me. However, when I sit down and reflect on his Word, I have to apologize to him because, of course God would speak to his creation. He loves me. He loves us. His Word is designed to give us guidance, comfort, and hope. So when I feel distant from the Lord I continue to meditate in his Word daily.
This time, as I began to drift into another dry place, I felt something new about the Scriptures. They felt like letters from a friend who had gone away for a time. Each day, as I would read a familiar passage, it would bring back memories of other times those passages spoke to me, helped me, and comforted me. I have been through the Bible many times. Each time I try to increase my understanding and knowledge. Each time I take more and more notes. However, through my recent dry spell, I just wanted to remind myself that I am loved by the Lord and he is still working on my behalf.
I know part of my dryness comes from stress and part of it comes from the frustration of the process. Nothing happens automatically or immediately. The things God shows us sometimes take time—more time that we feel we can endure. Sometimes things have to align with God’s will, whether it is something in your life or even in someone else’s life. Yes, we are waiting, but sometimes God is patiently waiting too—on you or on others.
Then the moment comes like a flood, where your dear friend arrives on the scene once again and asks you what is wrong? The only answer you could come up with was, “Nothing’s wrong, I was just missing you.” That’s the feeling which brought me to tears one morning as I was doing my daily Bible readings. Susan and I are reading through the Bible this year in the New King James Version. Suddenly I felt that familiar voice speaking to me. My first thought was that the word I was receiving was out of context, and not only that, it was part of two different verses. Then that gentle, patient voice said just receive it. When I took it as a Word from the Lord, it all begin to make sense and a fresh word was dropped into my spirit. The LORD said, "All the counsel you have received has only worn you out. From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you." (Isaiah 47:13 and 48:6b NKJV)
You might think those two verses don’t provide must direction, but look a little deeper. It promises direction and revelation, and that’s enough for now. It also confirms I am still on the right path, walking through a desert place, heading for another oasis which will refresh and strengthen me for the long journey ahead.
My encouragement to you is this: Each time of refreshing is not a stopping place, it is just there to get you to the next place of rebuilding and strengthening. The dry times in-between increase our endurance, strengthen our resolve, and perfect our patience. The journey is long, the destination is important, but God has marked out a path with times of refreshing all along the way, so we will have enough strength to finish strong our race for him.
I hope this word from the wilderness encourages you to keep moving forward. Our rest comes at the oasis, not in the dry place. Press on. Refreshing may be just around the next corner. Keep looking for the signposts for direction along the way, but remember the three important points I mentioned: 1) keep doing right, 2) keep moving in the last direction you were shown, and 3) continue seeking his voice.
After a series of messages on loving the Lord this next month, the Lord has shown me that Calvary is about to experience some times of refreshing too. Hallelujah!
“A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
Psalms 63:1-8, NIV.
The Lord is good. He has designed even the dry times to build us up and cause us to desire him more. Stand with me in prayer, because when the Lord shows you something, it is because he wants us to desire it, embrace it, and pray for it.
“Calvary exists to demonstrate the love of God to the families of our community!”