In this video, Rev. Eric Bancroft reassures Christians in seasons of spiritual dryness that God’s love never depends on their feelings and that staying planted among His people leads to steady growth.
I think it’s understandable that at different times of the Christian life, Christians may feel spiritually stagnant. They will feel like by way of comparison, maybe a previous time in their life where they felt alive and active and excited and energized by their walk with the Lord; things seem dry, things seem cold. I would say a couple of things are important for them to remember.
First of all, to realize that their relationship with God is not dependent upon their spiritual vitality. It’s not as if they’re saved by grace through faith, but now they’re kept in the faith by works. They’re saved by grace through and through. Christ’s righteousness credited to them has secured the relationship with Him no matter how they feel–close or not.
Now, when it comes to then the reality of within what to do when you feel stagnant, I think this is where Psalm 1 can help us. It speaks about how the righteous man is like a stream planted by streams of water. Think about a tree. A tree does not know it’s growing every day. You could not even see it with the untrained eye. It just looks like it was yesterday. But because it’s fed by the nutrients in the soil connected to the streams of water, it’s slowly growing.
I say this because for somebody who’s feeling spiritually stagnant—what to do? Oh friend, what you should do is be where God’s people are. Be in church even if you don’t feel like it, even if it feels more routine. Because there are some times where it’s not so much the delight of our heart, but it is the duty of His Word. And it’s not the sole driving factor, but it’s a part of it that keeps us there. I believe even when I cannot see; I will obey even when I do not feel because I believe God’s ways are better than mine and His Word is wiser than mine and I want to keep myself there. And then trust over time that the spiritually stagnant time will indeed pass; that I can know at times of vigor and energy yet again, but to know it’s never a matter of God’s love for me that has been fixed with Christ on Calvary and for that I’m thankful.