Overcoming Spiritual Dryness

Join Crystal as she digs into Psalm 63 this week and discusses the topic of Spiritual Dryness. 

Have you been there? When your Bible reading, your prayer time, your church attendance…it all just seems mundane? It's as if you are going through the motions of Christianity, but inside you're feeling apathetic or indifferent toward the things of the LORD.

The solution is found right here in Psalm 63! The LORD wants to turn your dryness into devotion. Will you let Him?

Beginning in April, we will be studying through I and II Thessalonians. Here's the link to the study guide if you'd like one to accompany your study. 

Available Bible Studies and Bible Study Guides (affiliate links):

• It's Time.
• Arise, Go.
• Pullin' Weeds, Plantin' Seeds
• There's a Fly in my Tea!
• Study Your Bible With Me Series

Connect with me:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi there! Welcome to Wisdom for Wednesday, your midweek pause for truth, encouragement, and practical faith. I'm your host, Crystal Ratcliffe, author, speaker, and fellow traveler on this journey of growing in God's Word. Each week we'll dive into Scripture together and have the opportunity to be encouraged in the truth that never changes. If you're able, grab your Bible, a cup of coffee, and let's seek God's wisdom together. Hi there and welcome back to Wisdom for Wednesday. I'm so glad you're joining me today. I will just say that I had shared my goal was to finish the devotional book that I'm working on in 90 days. And so that deadline is fast approaching. And I know some of you have been praying for me. I appreciate that. I am getting close. I don't know that I'm gonna make it right at the end of the month, but it will be close, and I'm excited to share that with you. That, of course, is kind of the beginning, I think, of a series of today's thoughts, which those of you that followed me on social media before when I would share those in my stories, you know what I'm talking about. So that's what I've been hard at work on, and it is coming together. I'm excited with the progress I've made, and we'll see where I end up. Maybe not quite hit the deadline, but close. That will be my goal. So, anyway, this week on the podcast, I wanted to talk about Psalm 63 because I recently had the opportunity to hear a message preached by Brother Rodney Woodcock. He's one of my favorite preachers. He was at that church planning conference that we went to in Colorado, and he preached from Psalm 63, and I enjoyed it so much. You may remember at the end of the session that I shared last week on the podcast, I read the first two verses because I had just heard them and just heard this message preached. One of his main thoughts was in the midst of spiritual dryness, God alone is enough. And I just love that. So I'm gonna be sharing a few things that he said along the way, but mostly his message just prompted me to study it for myself, which I think is always good for us to do. Now, there is some debate about when this was written. It says in the title, A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. Some believe that he was on the run from Saul at this time, and some say he was on the run from Absalom. Now, I personally think that makes more sense because he does call himself the king in verse 11. And when Saul was still alive, I don't think that's what David would have said. I've always admired that David felt no need to take the kingship. He knew that God would give it to him at the proper time. But then also in this passage there toward the end, verse 9 and 10, it does talk about the judgment that David wants to come upon his enemies. Um, and we know that he mourned greatly for his son Absalom when he was killed in the battle that took place. So I guess I'll leave that up to you as far as when this was written. But we can we can know that regardless, it was during a dark time in David's life, it was during a difficult time. And judging by the words that he uses in those first couple verses, it could be described as a time of spiritual dryness. So I would ask you this: have you been there? I think we all have. When you're Bible reading, your prayer time, your church attendance, it all just seems mundane. You're going through the motions. I talk about that a lot because that truly is what spurred me into studying my Bible so long ago. But it also brought to mind the chapter from Pullin' Weeds Planting Seeds that I did called Apathy versus Zeal. So apathy is a lack of interest, concern, or enthusiasm. It's a place we might find ourselves, I would say, when we're between spiritual mountaintops and spiritual valleys. We might be just apathetic. I'm also reminded, my husband just preached on Sunday night a message about the Laodicean church in Revelation chapter three. And of course, they are described as neither cold nor hot. They're just lukewarm. And so the word that he was using during his message was indifferent. So being neutral, just not caring one way or the other, um, indifferent. And I would say that all of these descriptions are a perfect way to describe us when we're in the midst of a spiritually dry time. And we will all be there from time to time. Now, Jesus warns against going through the motions of Christianity. He says in Matthew 15, 8 and 9, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And then in Revelation 3:16, he says, So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. So the Laodicean church had other problems as well. They were trusting in their own riches, their own knowledge and wisdom, and seemingly they were just too self-sufficient, too busy, and too apathetic to be concerned with Jesus, which sounds a lot like where we're living today, honestly, in our world today and even amongst Christians today. And in verse 20, he stands at the door and knocks. He's ready and willing for us to turn, to repent from our spiritual indifference and to get right with him and to get on fire for him again. Now remember, I told you, Brother Woodcock said this, in the midst of spiritual dryness, God alone is enough. And he gave these warnings for when we're in a time of spiritual dryness. I want to share them with you. He says, Beware of ignoring God's word. Beware of ignoring God's throne room or coming to before him in prayer. And then as a side note, I would just say for those of us in ministry or we're attempting to serve the Lord in some way, our first ministry must be our personal relationship with the Lord. Brother Jason Gaddis explains it this way: He says, service to God is to flow out of our relationship with him. So we can't serve, we can't minister if we aren't in God's word and having a prayer life for our own personal benefit and growth. And then the third thing that Brother Woodcock said was to beware of ignoring fellowship with God's people. Now, this one gets me because I know there are times when I just don't feel like it. I think we could all say that we've been there. You know, sometimes I go to church and for whatever reason I am not feeling especially social that day. Is anyone else like that? Please tell me I'm not alone. But in our church, we always have a time of handshaking or fellowship. And so there are times when I don't want to go shake hands. I'm just gonna be honest with you today. There are times when I just don't feel like it. But I know that I need to do that to be an encouragement to others, and it helps me to be encouraged if I will make myself do it. And then there's other times when I feel very social. And like I said, I don't know why or what the difference is, but there's times when I'm singing in the choir and I'll be watching and I'll watch for the people that look like they need encouragement. I'll watch for the people who maybe they haven't cracked to smile all morning. And when it comes time to handshaking, you better believe I'm gonna go find those people. And I'm going to shake their hands and I'm gonna try and make them smile, make them feel welcome on that note as well. If you are a church that has that time of fellowship, make sure you're getting around to your visitors. Please, visitors should never be standing alone during a time of fellowship, a time of handshaking. Seek them out. I always try to make it around to the visitors. Sometimes I don't, I'm not as successful as others, but um, I try to make it around to all of the visitors at least to try and shake their hand, introduce myself, and make them feel welcome. And we should all be doing that. But anyway, let me get back on track here. When we're feeling, when we are in a time of spiritual dryness, I think our tendency is to uh start to pull inward and not uh spend time with God's people. We we don't want to do that as much, but as Brother Woodcock pointed out, we need the fellowship of others in our spiritual life. We were never meant to do this Christian life thing alone. And so beware of ignoring that fellowship time, not just a handshaking time, you know what I'm talking about, but beware of ignoring time with God's people. So, as I began to study here in Psalm 63, uh the solution I found for those times when we find ourselves in spiritual dryness. Here's a few things that I found. So let's start reading in verse one, and then I will comment, I suppose, as we go along. O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary, because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live, I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied with morrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes, but the king shall rejoice in God, everyone that sweareth by him shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. So the first thing I see there is um of what we can do. A solution for spiritual dryness is to seek God early, and that means earnestly, diligently look for him. It can mean early in the day, yes, of course, I think that's important, but it also means early as in before anything else. So before you go to anyone else, anything else, go to God first, seek him, earnestly and diligently look for him. The second thing I see here is to delight in him and in his word. And we see those phrases, thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land. Psalm 119, 16 says, I will delight myself in thy statutes, I will not forget thy word. Same chapter, verse 47, and I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. And verse 97 says, Oh, how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. If we will delight in the Lord and in his word, it will help us in those times of spiritual dryness. The next thing I see is we need to open our eyes. It says in verse 2, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. So God is always working in our lives, and in times of trouble or when we feel like we're wandering in a wilderness, we may find it hard to see him working because of all the trees around us, or the problems around us, the things that we feel are against us, or in times of spiritual dryness, we may take his working for granted. Um, and our focus is often on ourselves, our problems and our feelings. So we need to open our eyes. Psalm 119, 18 says, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And remember when Elisha's servant was afraid in 2 Kings chapter 6, it's verse 16 says this, and he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And verse 17 says, And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And so sometimes we need to ask the Lord to help us open our eyes and see his power and his glory because he is working, he is always working in our lives. And then the fourth thing I see is that we should praise him. There's always a reason to praise the Lord. And here specifically it talks about his loving kindness. And we could praise him for salvation, for grace, for mercy, for forgiveness, for the provision he gives to us, our homes, our vehicles, our jobs, our protection, our promises, his promises that he has fulfilled in his word. We could praise him for our family, for our friends, for our church. The list could go on and on of the things that we could praise the Lord for. And so we need to take time to praise him. And it says, My lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. So praise him, worship him. And then it's the next thing I see is that we would remember and rejoice. If we can't see him working right now, we can always look back and we can remember all he has done for us. We can remember our salvation, we can remember times of deliverance, times of comfort, times of faithfulness. Take time to recall what he has done for you in the past and rejoice in the Lord. And then finally, the last thing I see here is that we should cleave to the Lord. That goes with that verse, followeth my soul followeth hard after thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me. And the verse before it, I'm sorry, I should have started there, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. So when you're thinking about what he has done before for you, you know he has been your help. And in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. That's that's his presence, that's his protection right there with us. And then we see that following after is cleaving to the Lord or being glued to him, cling to him. And then it says, He will uphold you, which means to support, to sustain, to keep you from falling or slipping. So there are going to be times that we face spiritual dryness, but when we remember to do these things, seek God early, delight in him and his word, open our eyes to see his power and glory, praise him, take time to praise him, remember all he has done and rejoice in him and then cleave to him. He will hold you up during those times, he will keep you from slipping any further into that spiritual dryness, that apathy or discouragement. He's going to turn your dryness into devotion if you will let him. Because remember, he is standing at the door and he is knocking. He is just waiting for us to open the door and let him come in and fellowship with us. And that truly is going to be the solution for that spiritual dryness, being apathetic, being lukewarm, being indifferent, whatever you want to call it. The Lord wants to turn that around. Okay, I'm gonna leave it right there for today. Thank you so much for listening. If it's been an encouragement to you, please share it with a friend, leave a rating or review. As always, that helps so much on the podcast and on the books. And I'm excited to share where we're headed next. I am going to start studying first and second Thessalonians, and of course, I would like to invite you to study along with me. So I'm gonna begin studying, and kind of like I did on the Her Portion podcast, I will just be sharing from the chapter what the Lord has spoken to me about. It's not necessarily going to be an in-depth study on here. I'm gonna be diving deep on my own, and hopefully you will too, but I just won't have time to share everything, I'm sure. So if you would like to study along with me, please do so. I created a study guide for us, first and second Thessalonians combined, and it is available on Amazon. I will have a link in the show notes for you. And of course, you don't have to have that to study with us. You don't even have to be studying Thessalonians, I don't believe, to be encouraged by the upcoming episodes. So make sure you stay tuned. That will kick off in April. Next week, I have a special ministry mindset series I'm excited to share with you. It is from Miss Janelle Durham, which is the pastor's wife at Calvary Baptist Church in Perry, Oklahoma, where I just spoke. And she's gonna give, we did our ministry mindset interview, and then we kind of added to it a little bit, and she shared a little bit of her heart about the conference and that theme, Be Still and Know. So make sure you tune in next week for that, and then we'll see you back here in April with First and Second Thessalonians.