Scripture: Psalm 63:1–8; Hebrews 13:5
These past couple of weeks, I have felt distant from the Lord. I still begin my mornings with my Bible and a cup of coffee. I read. I pray. But that familiar sense of closeness I have known in my time with Him seems strangely absent. And when I sit down to write a devotional or prepare a Bible teaching, well, let’s just say the well feels dry. I have plenty of coffee, but the words are not there.
Perhaps you have experienced a season like this. You continue doing the things you have always done, but something feels different. You open your Bible, read a passage, and wonder why the words that once seemed to speak so clearly to your heart now seem strangely quiet. You pray, but you miss that familiar sense of the Lord’s nearness. Before long, you begin to wonder what has changed. Is it something you have done? Have you somehow drifted away without realizing it?
You know the Lord has promised never to leave you, but knowing that truth and feeling His presence are not always the same thing.
Psalm 63 has long been my favorite psalm, and lately I have found myself returning to David’s words with a renewed appreciation for what he was experiencing.
“O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1, NKJV)
David was in the wilderness of Judah, far from the sanctuary where he had worshiped the Lord. His surroundings were dry, his circumstances were difficult, and his soul longed for the God he knew and loved.
But notice how David begins his prayer. Before he speaks of his thirst or describes the wilderness around him, he declares, “O God, You are my God.”
I love that. David was not searching for a God he did not know. He was longing for the God he already knew and loved. His circumstances had changed, but his relationship with the Lord had not.
Perhaps that is what makes these dry seasons so difficult for us. We remember those mornings when we opened our Bibles and could hardly wait to see what the Lord would teach us. We remember the delight of discovering something in Scripture that we had never noticed before. We miss those times with Him, and we wonder why things seem so different lately.
And if we are not careful, we can begin measuring our relationship with the Lord by how we feel on any given morning. When our hearts are full and the words seem to leap off the page, we are certain He is near. But when we read the same passage three times and still find ourselves wondering what we just read, we begin questioning whether something is wrong.
Thankfully, the Lord’s faithfulness is not dependent upon our ability to feel His presence.
As David continues his prayer, he remembers the Lord’s lovingkindness and the help he has received from Him. In verses 6–7, he recalls meditating on God during the night watches and rejoicing in the shadow of His wings. David’s circumstances had not necessarily changed, but he could look back and remember the faithfulness of the One who had sustained him.
And that is something we can do when our own hearts feel dry. We can remember what we know to be true about the Lord, even when our feelings seem to tell us otherwise. We can recall the ways He has cared for us, the prayers He has answered, and the comfort we have found in His Word. None of those things cease to be true simply because today feels different.
Perhaps, for a little while, we need to stop worrying about whether we are doing enough in our time with the Lord. We may open our Bibles and feel that we should be learning more or coming away with some wonderful insight to carry us through the day. But sometimes we simply need to sit quietly with His Word, bring our hearts before Him, and remember that our relationship with Him is not measured by how much we accomplish or how deeply we feel His presence. We are His children, and we can come to Him just as we are.
I do not know how long these dry seasons will last, and Scripture does not give us a formula for making that familiar sense of closeness return. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could turn to a certain page, read three verses, say a prayer, and have everything feel right again? But our relationship with the Lord is not something we can manage with a checklist, and His presence is not something we have to earn by doing all the right things.
What Scripture does give us is something far more dependable than our feelings. The Lord has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
So, when the well feels dry, we keep coming to Him. We read His Word, we pray, and we remember His faithfulness in the days when His presence seemed so near. We may not always feel the closeness we have known before, but we can rest in the assurance that the God who sustained David in the wilderness has not changed.
And perhaps that is where I need to rest for now. I may not have all the words I would like to write, and my mornings may not feel quite the way they once did, but I still belong to the Lord. Just as David could say, “O God, You are my God,” I can say those same words today.
The well may feel dry, but the Lord has not gone anywhere. And when I cannot find the words, I can still come to Him, knowing He has promised never to leave me.
Father, You know how much I miss that sense of Your nearness. When my heart feels dry, help me to remember Your faithfulness and trust what You have told me in Your Word. Teach me to seek You because You are my God, not simply because of how I feel when I am near You. And when I struggle to find the words to pray, remind me that You already know what is in my heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.