Chapter 4 When God Feels Distant in Ministry

The Paradox of Ministry and Spiritual Dryness One of the most disorienting experiences in pastoral ministry is serving God professionally while experiencing spiritual dryness personally. You are talking about God all day, yet He feels far away. You are preaching His Word, yet it isn't landing in your own soul. You are praying in public with authority, yet privately feeling like your prayers bounce off the ceiling. This experience is more common than most pastors admit. And it is one of the most isolating, because it doesn't fit the public image of a pastor who is close to God and full of the Spirit. It is also, historically, one of the most common experiences of genuine saints. The mystics called it desolation. The Puritans called it the felt absence of God. Whatever you call it, it is real, it is normal, and it is survivable. "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" — Psalm 13:1 What to Do When God Feels Absent First: don't pretend. The Psalms never pretend. They name the dryness directly, honestly, without performance. Give yourself permission to be honest with God about how dry you feel. He knows anyway. Second: don't stop the practices. When prayer feels empty, keep praying. When Scripture feels dry, keep reading. The practices are not contingent on feeling productive. Spiritual dryness is not always a sign that you are doing something wrong. Sometimes it is God stripping away your dependence on emotional experience so you can learn to walk by faith rather than feeling. Third: talk to someone. A trusted friend, a spiritual director, a counselor — someone who can help you discern whether this is a season of spiritual testing or a symptom of depletion that needs real attention and care. Dryness is not absence. God is not gone because you don't feel Him. He is often doing His deepest work in the seasons that feel most silent.