Maybe you’re there right now.
You wake up, grab your Bible, and the words that used to light up your soul feel like… just words. Your prayers bounce off the ceiling. You’re going through the motions at church, singing the songs, but inside? Not much happening. It’s like everyone else is having this amazing conversation with God while you’re stuck on spiritual mute.
If that’s you, I need you to hear something: You’re not broken. You’re not forgotten. And Jesus hasn’t given up on you.
What you’re experiencing has a name: spiritual dryness. It’s a season when God feels far away, even though you’re doing all the “right” things. And here’s the thing: it happens to everyone. King David felt it. Mother Teresa lived with it for decades. Even pastors go through it (trust me).
But here’s the truth: When you feel furthest from God, He’s often doing His deepest work.
When Your Soul Goes Quiet
Let me tell you about a man who couldn’t hear anything – literally. In Mark 7, there’s this guy who’s deaf and can barely speak. His friends have to drag him to Jesus because he can’t even ask for help himself.
Sound familiar?
When you’re spiritually dry, you become like that man. You can’t hear God’s voice. You can’t find the words to pray. You might even need other people to carry you to church because you just can’t do it on your own anymore.
Here’s what I love about this story: Jesus took a major detour to reach this one guy. We’re talking about going miles out of His way through territories He didn’t need to visit. All for someone who couldn’t even call His name.
That’s how Jesus operates in your dryness. You might feel like you’re stuck in some spiritual caboose at the back of the faith train, but Jesus is willing to reroute His entire GPS to find you.
Why does this happen? Sometimes it’s obvious:
- There’s sin you haven’t dealt with (we all have it)
- You’re absolutely exhausted from life
- You’re disappointed because God didn’t answer that prayer the way you wanted
- Your phone has become louder than God’s voice
But sometimes (and churches don’t talk about this enough) God allows you to have time of spiritual dryness on purpose. Not because you’ve failed, but because He’s training you for something deeper.
Think about it. New relationships are all butterflies and excitement, right? But mature love? That’s choosing to stay when the feelings fade. That’s faithfulness on a random Tuesday when nothing feels special.
God’s teaching you to love Him for who He is, not just for the spiritual highs He gives.
Jesus Pursues the Overlooked
Back to our deaf friend in Mark 7. Watch what Jesus does, because it’s beautiful and weird all at once.
First, He takes the man away from the crowd. Just the two of them. No audience. No performance. Then Jesus does something that would definitely raise eyebrows in our church lobby: He puts His fingers in the man’s ears and touches his tongue.
Why? The man couldn’t hear Jesus speak, so Jesus spoke through touch. Every action said something:
- Fingers in the ears: “I know exactly where you’re hurting”
- Touch on the tongue: “I’m going to fix what’s broken”
- Looking to heaven: “This healing comes from above”
Then comes a super interesting part. Before Jesus heals him, He sighs.
That’s not just clearing His throat. The Greek word means a deep, emotional exhale, like when you see your kid with scraped knees and you go “Oh, honey…” before you even move to help. It’s love responding to pain.
Jesus sighs over your spiritual dryness too. Not in frustration. Not in disappointment. But with the kind of compassion that feels your struggle in His own chest.
Then He speaks one word: “Ephphatha.”
Be opened.
And immediately, everything changes. The man’s ears pop open. His tongue loosens. He can hear, he can speak.
What If God’s Silence Is Actually His Loudest Love?
Here’s what I wish someone had told me during my own dry seasons: Sometimes God is quiet because He’s working deeper than feelings can reach.
I sat with a pastor friend recently who said something that hit me hard. He’d been in ministry for 20 years, knew all the right answers, but realized he’d been going through the motions. His faith had become what he called “Christian karaoke”: singing along with the words, but they weren’t coming from his heart anymore.
Maybe that’s you. You know the lyrics to every worship song. You can quote the verses. You show up, you serve, you smile. But inside, you’re running on empty.
The old Christian mystics understood that these “dark nights of the soul” aren’t God abandoning you. They’re God weaning you off spiritual candy so you can handle spiritual meat. He’s moving you from:
- Needing emotional highs to having steady faith
- Performing for God to just being with God
- Knowing about Him to actually knowing Him
Even Jesus experienced this. In the garden, sweating blood, feeling the weight of what was coming. On the cross, crying out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
If Jesus walked through spiritual darkness and kept going, we shouldn’t be shocked when our path includes some valleys too.
Breaking Through: Practical Steps When You Feel Nothing
So what do you actually do when you’re spiritually flatlined? Here’s what’s helped me and others whom I’ve walked with through these seasons:
- You don’t need to pretend everything’s fine
God would rather have your honest mess than your fake hallelujahs. Tell Him you’re struggling. Tell Him you’re mad. Tell Him you feel nothing. David did it all the time in the Psalms. “God, where are you?!” is basically a biblical prayer.
- Shrink your prayers
When you can’t pray for an hour, pray for five minutes. When you can’t manage five minutes, pray one sentence. “Jesus, help.” That’s a complete prayer. “I believe, help my unbelief.” That’s another one. Stop measuring your prayer life by prayer length and start measuring it by showing up.
- Borrow someone else’s faith
Remember the deaf man’s friends? They brought him to Jesus when he couldn’t get there himself. You need that too. Find one person and tell them, “I’m struggling. Can you pray for me?”
- Check the practical stuff
Are you exhausted? Elijah wanted to die after his big spiritual victory, and you know what God did? Gave him a nap and a snack. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is get eight hours of sleep.
Are you isolated? Scrolling Instagram doesn’t count as community. You need real people, real conversations, real connection.
- Keep showing up anyway
This is the hardest one. When you feel nothing, keep reading your Bible. When prayer feels pointless, keep praying. When church feels empty, keep going.
Not because you’re earning God’s attention – you already have it. But because faithfulness during dryness builds the kind of faith that weathers any storm.
Your Silence Isn’t Separation
Let me be clear about something: Your feelings are terrible GPS for finding God’s actual location.
You feel far from God? Romans 8 says NOTHING can separate you from His love. Not even your spiritual dryness. Not even your doubt. Not even that thing you did that you think disqualified you.
You feel forgotten? Isaiah 49 says God has you tattooed on His palms. You’re inscribed on His hands. He couldn’t forget you if He tried.
You feel like God’s disappointed in you? Zephaniah 3:17 says He’s singing over you right now. Singing! While you’re sitting there feeling spiritually dead, heaven’s soundtrack has your name in it.
The same Jesus who traveled miles out of His way to heal one deaf man is willing to cross whatever distance necessary to reach you. He’s not waiting for you to get your act together. He’s not demanding you feel something first.
He’s standing in your dryness saying the same word He spoke over that deaf man: “Ephphatha.” Be opened.
And here’s what I know from personal experience and years of walking with others through these deserts: This season will end.
Spring always follows winter. Morning always breaks through night. Your spiritual feelings will return, probably when you least expect it, often stronger than before.
But until then? Keep showing up. Keep trusting. Keep believing that the God who seems silent is actually closer than your next breath, working in ways you won’t understand until you look back.
What Now?
If this is hitting home, here’s what I want you to do today.
- Take 10 minutes of silence. No phone. No music. No agenda. Just sit with God and let Him sit with you.
- Write one honest sentence to God. Not a paragraph, not a prayer journal entry. One sentence about how you really feel.
- Text one friend. Say, “I’m struggling spiritually. No need to fix it. Just wanted you to know.” Let someone else carry this with you.
- Give yourself permission to be in process. You don’t have to feel God today. You don’t have to have amazing devotions tomorrow. You just have to keep showing up.
Remember: Jesus pursued a deaf man who couldn’t even call His name. He’ll pursue you too. Your disconnection doesn’t change His direction. He’s always moving toward you, especially when you can’t move toward Him.
That spiritual dryness you’re feeling is not the end of your story. It might just be the chapter where God does His deepest work, where faith grows strongest, where you learn to love Him for who He is instead of what He does.
Hold on. Morning’s coming.
Want more encouragement for your faith journey? Listen to Gospel Daily on your favorite podcast platform. And if you’re in the Denver area, we’d love to see you at Grace Chapel this Sunday. Sometimes you need others to bring you to Jesus, and we’d be honored to walk with you.