You know the drill. At least I think you do.
Go to church. Attend Bible study. Fellowship with other believers. Pray intentionally. Or turn on the praise music loud while dancing with wild abandon, maybe like David did.
Or maybe not.
Through some means of spending time with God your soul feels lifted up.
You feel, filled up.
You feel, good.
Filling up feels like we think it should; maybe like we think Jesus would have us feel. Sometimes, we begin to equate good Christian living with good feelings. After all, doesn’t God want us to be happy?
But somewhere deeper, maybe there’s a nudge which tells us it’s not quite that simple.
Even so, let’s be honest. Don’t we all love days like this? The ones where we feel like taking on the world with a smile, and where we believe anything is possible? We’d take a million more. Pretty please?
But what about the days we don’t feel happy. Feel full. Or, feel good?
What about the days we feel empty, dry and just plain burned out? Or the times when we’re numb to feeling much of anything because we’ve felt so much that there’s nothing left. Or the times when what we feel is anything but good.
Can’t we just skip all the crappy days? The days when we’ve tried so hard to do all the right things, but nothing turns out like we think it should?
What about those days when we try so hard to live by faith but the hard keeps coming and our heart feels like we can’t take anymore?
What then?
Are we missing something? Have we failed in some way? Has God let us down? What’s wrong?
The enemy whispers loudly. We begin to crumple up inside. We begin to believe the lies that what we’re fighting through isn’t worth the effort, or that we’ll never win, or that {gulp} God is either not big enough or doesn’t care enough.
Can I pause here with you for a moment, dear one?
It’s.
Not.
True.
No matter what our feelings are, God never ever changes. No matter what our mind tells us is impossible, God tells us that with Him all things are possible.
God.
Is.
Greater.
What if…those crummy, knock-you-off-your-feet kind of days are just the thing we need the most, even though we want them the least?
I know. That’s hard to think about, isn’t it?
As much as we would love to equate faith with feeling good, it just doesn’t work that way. Instead, we get to live through hard & lean into the One who makes getting through possible. We get to learn how to trust in the One who can, rather than rely on the ones who can’t. Like me, you, and everyone else.
As long as you & I are still alive, God is doing a work in us.  We’re not finished yet. He has good things for us and for His glory. They go hand in hand.
If all we knew were the feel-good days, how would we know how amazing our God is? How would we know His ability to carry through, to comfort the pain & to raise us up from the depths?
How would we know His goodness?
What if those times when we feel the driest are simply reminders of how much we need his living water?
What if God is asking us to tap the rock, like Moses, to conquer the feelings of defeat with His words of truth?
What if faith is less about being fueled by positive feelings and more about actively trusting in the midst of not wanting to trust at all?
What if the days when faith is hard to do are the days we need faith the most?
Because, filling up on the all the good things don’t mean the bad days won’t come. When the bottom gets knocked out and it seems like nothing good stays in, we need an unending source to keep filling us up again.
And wouldn’t you know, we have a God that makes that possible. He is the God who sees, the God who redeems, who cares, who comforts, who loves, who strengthens and who is victorious.
“It is not great faith, but true faith that saves; and the salvation lies not in the faith, but in the Christ in whom faith trusts.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
How’s your faith doing today, friend? Are you struggling or rejoicing? Limping or leaping?
I’m praying for you & thanking God with you that He is able to see you through.
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Reminds me of a line from “Saving Private Ryan”…
“Well, when was the last time you felt good about anything?”
It isn’t really about feeling, or even faith. It’s about what you choose to do in the moment…stand for God, even if he’s not there, or not.
C.S. Lewis addressed this in the fourth of the Narnia books, “the Silver Chair”, when Puddleglum, in the hands of the Green Witch, said he’d stand for Aslan even if there WAS no Aslan, because a make-believe Aslan was far better than the reality of the Green Witch.
I’m going to go with limping. I have recently had various health issues that seemingly won’t stop showing up. I’ve had to fight feelings of anger or depression around the adjustments I am needing to make that have been very unexpected. Yesterday and today, I just wasn’t feeling it! Church wasn’t bad, but I was internally distracted. This morning for the first time in a long time I got up early enough(because I passed out at 9:30 last night) to have a few minutes alone while my husband was getting ready to read Scripture, pray, jot a few things in my journal. I thought “this will give me a boost. a jump start.” Not really. I don’t feel much different than I did before. My mind is still all over the place. I wonder if it’s time to do a retreat with me and the Lord for a few evenings soon. But my performance obsession(or the enemy. or both) reject that because what if I say I’m going to do it then don’t? Or nothing changes? Or if I mess up and skip a day? Wow, this is longer than I expected it to be! But I totally identify with what you are saying – There are ebbs and flows and ups and downs and all of it…ALL of it…is for our unique and corporate journey with the Lord.
Oh, yes, definitely ebbs and flows. Sounds like a few minutes a day retreated with the Lord will be such a blessing. They sure are for me and I have to find intentional ways to make sure they happen, like turning of the radio in the car. Blessings!
Jolene, Thank you. This was such an encouraging and needed post. One of the things I am learning, as I live in a seemingly very dry spiritual desert, is that sometimes even when we do the whole spiritual “drill” and you don’t feel filled up and you feel like giving up The Spirit of God calls you to persevere. Keep the faith. Keep moving, being, doing regardless of if we feel it or not. The promised land is coming… 😉
Amen Sharon! I love the way you put it.
There is great strength and hope in your words today. We all have those crummy days and they leave us worn out and not able to move on at times. You give us words to remind us that with God all things are possible. Blessings!