When God feels silent: what to do in a dry season

Sometimes you pray and nothing seems to happen. Reading the Bible feels flat, and God feels a long way off. If that is where you are, you are in good company. Several people in the Bible went through the same thing, and their stories were kept for us to read.

Psalm 13: how long?

“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1, NKJV)

David asks God how long four times in the first two verses. He feels forgotten, and he carries sorrow in his heart every day (Psalm 13:1-2).

Then he asks God to consider him and hear him (Psalm 13:3). By the end of the psalm, he says he has trusted in God’s mercy, and that he will sing because God has dealt bountifully with him (Psalm 13:5-6). Nothing in the psalm says his situation changed. He decides to trust anyway.

You are allowed to tell God exactly how it feels.

Elijah under the broom tree

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah runs for his life. He walks for a day into the wilderness. There he sits down under a broom tree and prays that he might die. He tells God it is enough (1 Kings 19:3-4).

God’s first answer is practical. Elijah falls asleep. An angel wakes him and tells him to get up and eat, and there is a cake baked on coals and a jar of water beside him. He eats and drinks, then lies down again. The angel comes back a second time and tells him to eat, because he has a long way to go and cannot make it as he is (1 Kings 19:5-8).

Later, on the mountain of God, the Lord is not in the dramatic things that pass by. After them comes a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12).

Elijah also believed he was the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10). God told him there were seven thousand others in Israel who had not bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). A dry season can make you feel more alone than you are.

Jesus in the wilderness

Matthew says the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. After forty days and nights of fasting he was hungry, and the tempter came to him (Matthew 4:1-3). Twice the devil challenged him to prove that he was the Son of God (Matthew 4:3-6). Just before this, at his baptism, a voice from heaven had called him the Father’s Son (Matthew 3:17).

Jesus answered each test by pointing to what was already written in scripture (Matthew 4:4-10). In the end the devil left him, and angels came and looked after him (Matthew 4:11).

In episode 7

In episode 7 of Tea Time With Thandie, When the Wilderness Gets Loud, Thandie talks about how she felt overwhelmed and lonely after over two months of fasting. A conversation with her grandma led her to Matthew 4. The episode makes the point that the wilderness may feel dry, and that this does not mean there is no water.

What to do in a dry season

1. Keep talking to God. Tell him honestly how it feels, as David did. Psalm 42 is another prayer for dry times: read What does “As the deer pants for the water” mean?
2. Look after your body. Elijah needed food and sleep before anything else. NHS Every Mind Matters includes better sleep and a little activity each day in its tips for low mood (NHS Every Mind Matters).
3. Hold on to what God has said. Jesus answered with scripture. Write down a few verses you know are true, and read them when your feelings say otherwise.
4. Remember what God has done. David ended Psalm 13 by recalling that God had dealt bountifully with him.
5. Tell someone. Elijah thought he was the only one left, and he was wrong. Let someone you trust know how you are.
6. Check how you are fasting. If you have been going without food, read the health advice in What is fasting in the Bible?
7. Keep walking without the full picture. Read Trusting God when you can’t see the full plan.

When it might be more than a dry season

Sometimes what feels like a spiritual dry patch is also low mood. NHS Every Mind Matters says a low mood should lift after a few days. If it lasts longer than about two weeks, it may be a sign of depression. If low mood is affecting your daily life, call NHS 111 or talk to a GP (NHS Every Mind Matters). Getting help is part of looking after yourself, and it fits with faith. Read Can Christians go to therapy?

If you need help now

• If your life is at risk, or you do not feel you can keep yourself safe, call 999 or go to A&E (NHS).
• For urgent help with your mental health, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option, or use 111 online.
• Call Samaritans free on 116 123, at any time of day or night.
• Text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential support by text, 24 hours a day (Shout).

To hear more, listen to episode 7 of Tea Time With Thandie.