Cooking is not in my primary gifting cluster. I could live indefinitely on avocados, mangos, and nuts. But I will never forget a lesson my gourmet Dad taught me about making gravy. “Dad, I’m supposed to make gravy for the group tonight. It’s crazy thin. I must have done something wrong. How can I fix it???” I asked. “Daughter,” he said in his Mississippi drawl, “slowly add more flour and then take authority over that gravy!”
I tried. I failed. I still cannot make gravy. Please do not send me a cookbook. I have moved on.
But the image returns to me when I walk alongside of souls experiencing dry seasons spiritually. Often their first instinct mirrors mine in the kitchen: “This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. I must have done something wrong! Someone, somewhere, tell me how to fix it!” And then they add more flour—perhaps another retreat or donation or song or study—in an attempt to “take authority” over the dryness and will or work or pray it away.
But dryness is also essential for growth. The more and more I read from the lives of those who practiced the presence of God in a way that I aspire to, the more I realize that dryness, as a friend of intimacy with God, works to purify love.
For those journeying through a dry time, I offer the following encouragements
Call off the witch-hunt. Jesus stated that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) When dry or flat spiritually, ask the Spirit to reveal anything that may be hindering you. Is there an area you have resisted addressing? (Denial is a downer.) Is there a health condition that you need to get checked out? (Hormones have a mind of their own.) If so, take action. But if the Holy Spirit brings nothing to your mind, be at peace and resist self-initiating a witch-hunt. The Holy Spirit has more than sufficient confidence, skill, and desire to do His job.
Trust in God’s consistency. Dry or not, God is still with and within you. Declare it. Stand in it. Refuse to doubt that reality. Think of dryness as a workout for your will. Choosing to enthrone the truth of “Christ within, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27) above feelings, develops mental muscle and strengthens us in any season to believe when we cannot see.
Pamper your soul. What do you truly enjoy doing? Golfing? Walking along the beach? Antique shopping? Reading great books while drinking great coffee? In dry seasons, be intentional about nurturing the true you (that is saturated with your Creator’s fingerprints). Take a cooking class or go kayaking or take long baths or spend a day with a dear friend. Why? To actively confront and correct the errant view that dryness is a punishment. Dryness is a temporary state, not a permanent sentence.
Brother Lawrence said, “Lord, I am yours, dryness does not affect me.”[1] I confess, I am not a fan of dryness. But dry season develop a different type of spiritual muscle that serves us well in our common pursuit of sustained attentiveness to God’s presence.
[1] Lawrence and Frank Charles Laubach, Practicing His Presence (Jacksonville, FL.: SeedSowers, 1973), 39.
This is the second post I have read on this topic in the past 15 minutes. Hmmm, perhaps the Lord is trying to tell me something. My tendency is to work harder to make dry seasons wet. I know it doesn’t work, so why do I even try? Jesus is consistently with me in these seasons, as you said. So thankful for that. Lovely, and apparently, timely post!
This is so true! More and more I’m realizing that faith involves more resting in Him and less trying on my part. And don’t even get me started on the impossibility of “trying to rest”! There is such comfort in knowing that I am His workmanship and He will complete what He has begun.