Spiritual Drought

“For thus says the LORD. the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” - 1 King 17:14

There are times in every Christian’s life that the spiritual waters that nourish and give life to the soul seem to dry up, or at least reduce down to a mere trickle. In these seasons of spiritual drought, we often feel as if we should just give up on traveling to the stream of Bible study because each time we visit there it feels like a dry river bed. We read the words of God, and still believe they are power and life, but our reading seems to produce nothing and we return day after day from the rivers of living water with an empty vessel. We often feel as if we should give up on visiting the pools of prayer because every time we lower our head in prayer it feels as if we are lowing a bucket into an empty well.

In these seasons of spiritual drought, we lose strength and drive in living for the Lord. We, like the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8–16), feel as if we are gathering sticks for our last meal before our zeal for ministry and living for Christ dies. But it is in these moments that we must hear the Word of the Lord through the prophet Elijah.

First, we must hear that the Lord still calls us to service in seasons of drought. The widow was headed out to bake her last meal and die, but the Lord meets her in that moment and commands her to feed Elijah (1 Kings 17:9). Even in our season of drought, the Lord does not say, “Don’t worry, just think about yourself.” No, the Lord still calls us to service. Now, there are seasons where we must get alone and allow the Lord to minister to us because we have burned out, but those times go beyond seasons of spiritual drought. So in the times that I feel as if I am not hearing the Lord, my study has grown cold, my prayers wanting, I need not only be looking down to pick up sticks to feed my hunger, I also need to open my eyes to see who the Lord is calling me to serve.

Now, you should be thinking, “How will I serve if I feel as if I have nothing to give?” Perfect! This is exactly where we need to be because we have reached the truth of the matter; we never actually had anything to give anyways. Perhaps all your service for the Lord up to this point has been by your own strength! You felt strong, confident, capable, put together, and out of that you served others. But now, you are weak, hungering and thirsting for righteousness and having nothing to return to but a jar to make someone else a meal where you are only able to trust that the Lord will provide. Understanding that it is the Lord who provides what we need to serve is the second thing we need to learn from this passage in 1 Kings.

This then flows into the third idea; we must be willing to give out last piece of spiritual strength for the growth of someone else with complete faith that the Lord will feed us too! Notice that Elijah tells the widow, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.” Then listen to the promise, “For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”
In our seasons of spiritual drought, we are called to continue on with the work of the Lord with complete faith that He will provide moment by moment. And we can continue serving in the strength of the Lord and in the hope that He will once again send rain upon our parched souls and we will enjoy the sweet fellowship with the Lord.

Believer, trust that in your season of spiritual drought the Lord has not abandoned you or that you will forever be struck in drought. Know and believe what Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”