Refresh Your Soul: Moving From Spiritually Dry to Well-WateredНамуна

I am refreshed by meditating on God’s Word. By Maggie Combs

Spiritual dryness happened when I was young, last year, last week, and even a few hours ago. It creeps in during seasons of suffering or celebration, seasons momentous or mundane, seasons of transition or waiting.

I’m ashamed of my dryness. I cover it up at church Bible study as I hastily flip past the day of study I couldn’t bring myself to finish. I don’t even mention it when a friend asks me how I’m doing. The shame lingers when I tell a friend I’ll pray for her, knowing in the depths of my heart that I’ll never actually pause to do so. I avoid it by mouthing worship songs from memory without ever really worshiping.

Spiritual dryness has many causes, but my dryness usually comes from doubting both the truth and value of God’s Word. Why would I read what my soul doubts is true?

So I avoid the relational nature of God’s Word—sleeping too late for personal devotions, doing my work-related Bible reading for comprehension but not transformation, and neglecting prayer completely. As I bypass my Bible again and again, the soil of my soul cracks with thirst.

Because reading God’s Word isn’t the same as drinking it. Reading can be completely academic or in one ear and out the other. Drinking is meditation. Drinking is delighting. It’s slowly filling the mouth, enjoying a refreshing swish around the tongue, then gulping down with a smack of the lips and a punctuated “Ah!” Regular Bible study can lead to meditation, but it’s not meditation in and of itself.

Skimming God’s Word doesn’t quench our thirst. Academic dissection doesn’t quench our thirst. We can’t experience the delight of God’s law without lingering. Meditation takes us from simply consuming the truth to seeing the God who wrote the truth, made the promise, remained faithful, sacrificed himself, intercedes for us, and transforms us. Meditation is entering into relationship with God, and that relationship makes his Word sweet and refreshing.

Notice the benefits of meditating on God’s Word noted in Psalm 1. Not only is meditation a means to delight, but it also makes us firmly planted trees, no matter our circumstances. Even if we are in a season of intense heat that could lead to dryness, we remain well-watered when we meditate on God’s Word. So our leaf does not wither, although we only see spiritual fruit in its season.

Water Your Soul

What lies or thought patterns do you discern in your heart when you’re experiencing spiritual dryness? How do you think pride plays a role in your spiritual dryness?