Praying through a Spiritual Desert
By Dave Earley
Is prayer ever a struggle for you? Does it feel more like a duty than a delight?
Have you attempted to pray and felt nothing, nothing at all? Are you doing your best to be close to God, yet it is as though He is a million miles away? Have you tried desperately to enter God’s presence, only to sense that He is hiding from you?
You are not the first.
David’s Desert
Near the end of his life, David was chased off his throne, out of his city, and into the wilderness. His son Absalom had launched the vicious political and military overthrow and was chasing David with an army (2 Samuel 15–18). So, David again found himself away from the temple, in the wilderness, running for his life, and struggling through deeply difficult days of spiritual dryness.
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
David decided to continue passionately pursuing God anyway, even in a place of deep distress and spiritual dryness. By faith, he remembered God’s powerful presence and glorious goodness in the past—and praised the Lord.
“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” (Psalm 63:2–4).
As David desperately hung on to God, he realized that God was hanging on to him and would help him through it all.
“Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me” (Psalm 63:7–8).
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When you are in a spiritual desert, the answer you receive is an awareness that you are not forgotten or forsaken. God is there, even though you don’t see Him, hear Him, or feel Him. He is helping you and holding you. So a big key is to keep praying. Pursue God by faith and pray your way through your spiritual desert.
My Desert
As a young Christian, I was knocked off stride the first time I went through a season of “Soul Sahara.” When I surrendered my life to God, one of my greatest delights was enjoying a distinct sense of His presence. But one day it was gone.
For days I trudged through a spiritual desert. Each day my soul became dustier and my heart emptier. God was gone, and I felt like I was going it alone.
Scared that I had crossed a line, I racked my brain trying to remember some serious sin that I had committed or some devastating lie I had believed. But I got nothing. Confused, I was certain I was only person to ever go through such a spiritually lonely season.
One of my mature Christian friends asked me what was wrong. When I told him, he responded, “Oh, that happens to all of us. When you are a new Christian, God’s presence is all around and it seems like He answers every prayer, ‘Yes!’ But one day, He withdraws the sense of His presence so that you learn to walk by faith, not feelings. He has not left you, even though it feels like it. He is just helping you grow up.”
Then he looked directly at me: “The issue is what you do now. You can press on or fall back. If you hang in there, eventually your awareness of God’s presence will return.”
I felt better and tried to press on in pursuing God by reading the Bible and praying. But I still felt like I was praying into a big, black hole of nothingness. Not long after that, I was reading Hebrews and a verse caught my attention.
“You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him” (Hebrews 11:6, tlb).
The first and the last phrase caught my attention: “You can never please God without faith . . . he rewards those who sincerely look for him.” So, I decided to pursue God by faith, trusting that He would eventually reward me by letting me “find” Him.
I went into the closet in my bedroom and closed the door. It was dark. I could not see anything. I could not hear anything. I did not feel anything. Alone in the dark, I prayed what felt like a very bold prayer.
“OK, God. I can’t see You. I can’t hear You. I can’t touch You.
“I can’t smell You. I can’t taste You. I can’t feel You. I get it. You are hiding from me.
“I am going to pray anyway.
“I am praying by faith, not by feelings. I feel nothing. I am numb and dry inside. My soul is dark and barren. But You are worthy of my prayer. You are worthy of this time. So, I am praying.
“You promise to hear and answer prayer. You promise never to leave us or forsake us. You said that You reward those who diligently seek You. So here I am, by faith, diligently seeking You.”
I opened my eyes and looked around. Seeing nothing, I plunged on ahead.
“By faith, I bring You prayers of thanksgiving, adoration, confession, and supplication—whether I feel You here today or not.
“I am going to pray totally by faith. So here goes. God, I thank You because. . . .”
And before I could get the next words of praise out of my mouth, I felt it. It was the refreshing splash of a drop of God’s presence on my barren, dry soul. As I continued to pray, the presence of God increased drop after drop until it was as though that closet was flooded. By the time I was done, that spiritual cloud burst had drenched my soul. I was submerged in the replenishing water of the presence of God Himself. He had visited my closet, and I knew it.
I wish I could say it has always been that way when I tried to pray my way out of a dry time. Often, I pray by faith and feel just as dry and parched as I did before I started. But I have learned that eventually our heavenly Father will say, “Enough.” He will keep His promise and reward us with the treasure of Himself. He will show us that He was there all the time.
There is only one good way through a spiritual desert—keep going until you come out on the other side. Persist in faith, expectation, praise, and prayer until the Sahara season is over and spiritual refreshment floods your soul again.
(This blog entry is adapted from Dave's book 21 Keys to Answered Prayer. To read the longer, original chapter of this article, click here.)
