Sometimes a preacher find themselves gone dry. They have no fresh, inspiring ideas. That usually passes, but sometimes it is a reflection of a deeper spiritual crisis.  I know. I’ve been there. You plumb the spiritual well, but come up empty. Everything is dry. But it isn’t just preachers who experience this.

The problem of spiritual aridity is well known to spiritual directors. There are a variety of causes. Sometimes it comes from superficiality in prayer–not really exploring the depths of prayer. Sometimes it comes from life stresses that just overwhelm us. Everything seems so bad that hope vanishes. Sometimes this spiritual dryness is so profound as to leave us in despair.

This is from a letter written by Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “. . . this untold darkness—this loneliness—this continual longing for God—which gives me that pain deep down in my heart. . . . The place of God in my soul is blank. There is not God in me. When the pain of longing is so great—I just long & long for God—and then it is that I feel—He does not want me. . . .”

How could such a holy woman as Mother Teresa experience such abandonment? It was not unique to her. She was experiencing what is called The Dark Night of the Soul. It is not an utter loss of faith but a kind of spiritual life passage.

I’ll write more about his next week, but in the meantime be assured that if you experience something like this, you are not alone. It happens to the most faithful of God’s saints.

Read Psalm 63:1 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne