INTRODUCTION
• Have you ever been to the point in your walk with the Lord that just did not seem to be going anywhere? Did you or do you feel like you are wandering in the desert in circles, thirsting for water?
• There are times in our lives when we can feel very empty spiritually, we can find ourselves in a state of nothingness. Nothing seems to interest us spiritually; we do not seem to have the energy to get excited about the things of God. We want to be excited; we want to be interested, but it just not happening for us. We feel like we are wandering in a spiritually dry desert. We are dying of thirst, but cannot seem to find what we need to get back on track.
• This problem is nothing new. Psalm 42 deals with the subject of spiritual dryness. When you read the first part of the 42nd Psalm, it drips with feelings of spiritual dryness. In it we hear the heartfelt cry of the psalmist for God to restore the life and the passion he once knew. We see a person who desperately wants to once again feel the joy of his salvation.
• At the time of writing Psalm 42, the psalmist was dry spiritually. He had grown indifferent toward the sacred events that once thrilled him; he now needed time to gain some perspective on things.
SERMON
I. ALL PEOPLE SUFFER FROM SPIRITUAL DRYNESS AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES. (1-4)
• We all suffer through some kind of spiritual dryness at some point in our walk with Jesus.
• In verses 1-4, the psalmist is telling us that he is spiritually dry. His soul pants fro God like a thirsty deer pants for water. The psalmist is thirsting for the real God, not dead idols or representations of God.
• In verses 3-4, he says that he used to lead other people to God, now he does not see God. There is a contrast with past happiness with present sorrow about his spiritual dryness.
• In the Bible we have examples of this happening to people like King David, King Saul, Elijah, Job, Jonah, along with many others.
• Elijah is an example of a person who performed many great works through the power of God. After he took on the prophets of Baal and defeated them, he gets scared of Queen Jezebel. He is wandering around feeling sorry for himself thinking he is the only faithful one in the land. Later God shows him the error of his thinking.
• In 1 Kings 19:10 Elijah said to God, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
• Elijah was having some trouble with spiritual dryness. He had been to the top of the mountain, and now he was hiding in a cave wondering why God has seemingly forsaken him.
• We get to feeling sorry for ourselves when we start to suffer from bouts of spiritual dryness. We feel ashamed. We feel like we are the only Christian who has ever suffered from this malady.
• As I said, the truth of the matter is that everyone suffers through it at some point. The key to it is what we do when it comes.
• We have people like David, Elijah, and the Apostles who were able to get through it. We have some like King Saul who allowed the problem to destroy him.
• As we look at some of the causes of this problem, we need to realize that some of those who are most susceptible are those who are heavily involved in ministry.
• Without belaboring the point, if we are going to be able to get out of the desert, we need to realize that at some point all Christians suffer through times of spiritual dryness.
II. WHAT IS THE CAUSE FOR OUR SPIRITUAL DRYNESS?
• There are many possible causes for suffering through spiritual dryness. I am going to list eight common ones. If we are going to work through our time of wandering, we need to have some idea as to why it is happening.
1. Physical exhaustion.
• There are times that we run ourselves so ragged that we hurt ourselves spiritually. John Maxwell shares an illustration in his “One Hour With God devotions: In the jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Laborers had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason, they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
• When get push ourselves to the brink of exhaustion, we could find ourselves running on an empty spiritual tank. When this happens, we must slow down and let our soul catch up wit hour bodies.
• Some get so involved in working for the Lord, they forget to take time to refuel and recharge.
2. A “cool” spiritual environment.
• Sometimes the cause of our dryness is a “cool” spiritual environment.
• I have found myself starting to wander when I let my environment cool off. I love to listen to sports, watch sports, read the sports pages, and coach sports.
• When I work in the office, it is tempting to turn on the sports radio talk shows all the time. I have found when I do that too much, I start to feel dry. I make sure that I am listening to Christian music or Christian radio as much as I can.
• When I worked in the factory, one thing that helped me so much was when we were able to start listening to music through hearing protected headsets.
• My nights went by so much better when I would listen to my Christian music all night long as I worked; it was a real spiritual charge for me.
• IF your environment is “cool” to spiritual things, make some changes, you will be amazed at the difference!
3. Extensive spiritual output.
• This is close to the first problem, only it deals more with continually giving out without refilling the tank.
• Did you know that even the gas station has to be refilled periodically? People come all day long to fill up with gas. What would happen if the big gas truck did not come to refill the tanks? No fuel would be there for us to pay out the nose for.
• If you are teaching, preaching, or leading some sort of small group in the church, please make sure that you are sharing from your overflow of spiritual knowledge. Do not try to run on empty, it will cause you to start wandering in the desert.
4. Opposition
• This is the one that I find MOST draining. If you are trying to do something to help the kingdom of God that you are excited about, then all the sudden you have one or two or several who decide it is their job to oppose you.
• I have seen people trying to do something really nice for the church. They are excited and on fire for what they are doing, then all the sudden someone has a big water bucket they throw on the person and they put the fire out.
• When you see someone working for the Lord or His church, think long and hard before you throw a bucket of water on them. Constructive criticism is fine, just make sure it does not look like you are trying to teardown someone’s hard work.
5. Cycles of life.
• Cycles of life can cause us problems. We may be suffering from empty nest syndrome, or we may be going through some physiological changes that are affecting us.
6. Distractions
• It is easy to allow sports, entertainment, television, hobbies, or other things get in the way of our spiritual growth. It takes discipline to not allow the everyday things of life to get us bogged down.
7. Extended temptations
• If we are going through an extended period of temptation, that can be very draining on us. We can use all of our energy to fight off the temptation only to find ourselves empty spiritually.
• If you are in the middle of this, do whatever you need to do to take yourself away from the temptation!
• If you are struggling with alcohol, do not walk into or by the drink establishment.
8. Disobedience.
• Prolonged disobedience can cause the well to run dry. When we are doing what we know we should not be doing, it will cause us to be empty spiritually.
• If you are doing something you KNOW is wrong, stop doing it and trust God.
III. GOD MAY HAVE A PLAN FOR OUR WANDERING IN THE DESERT.
• Sometimes our dryness can be a God issue. Here are three possible ones.
1. God may be demanding new growth and maturity from us.
• It is easy to get comfortable with what we are doing. There are times God allows us to feel a bit dry to motivate us to grow in new ways. Maybe we need to teach that class we have been asked to. Maybe we need to lead that Bible Study we have talked about for years?
• When I felt called to ministry, I felt dry because I was resisting God’s demand for me to grow and mature in new ways. I just did not feel right until I followed God’s lead.
2. To help us to see who He really is; to give us a deeper revelation of Him.
• There are times when God wants to reveal himself in a deeper way to us. Remember Moses and the burning bush. Moses had gone through some tough things, God needed to break him a bit so He could reveal Himself in a deeper way.
• Jonah went through the same thing along with many others in the bible.
3. We are on the edge of wanting Him for who He is, not for what He gives.
• There comes a time when we move from serving and loving God for what He does for us to serving and loving Him for who He is.
• David went though difficult periods only to rejoice in whom God is, not just what God had given to Him.
• We are like God in the sense that we want people to love us for who we are, not what we give to them.
IV. HOW DO I GET OUT OF THE SPIRITUAL DESERT? (5,11)
1. Hope in God!
• This is something that is so simple it is almost embarrassing to state.
• If we are going to get out of the spiritual desert, we must put of focus back on God.
• Look at verses 5,11 with me. The psalmist finally realizes that God is the source of His strength. Hope in God, and I shall yet praise Him!
2. Recognize the problem.
• We also need to know if our dryness is caused by something that we are doing or not doing or if God is trying to speak to us through the dryness of the desert.
• Sometimes we may not like to drink water, but if we are thirsty enough, we will drink it. IF we are thirsty enough, we will listen to what God is telling us!
CONCLUSION
• If you are wandering in the desert, now is the time to come in and be refreshed. Remember, you are not the only one who has faced this before.
• Lean on God and His people for refreshment!
• If you are thirsty today, we offer you the living water of Jesus! Jesus will fill your every need!
