What to Do in a Spiritually Dry Season

What should I do when I feel spiritually dry, distant from God, or numb inside?

Exhaustion, disappointment, grief, sin, isolation, unanswered prayer, and prolonged stress can all affect your spiritual life. Psalm 27 was written from a place of fear and uncertainty, and David’s words reveal a deep longing for God’s presence. He says what he needs, asks for mercy, seeks God’s face, and keeps waiting. We can learn so much from him about what to do when God feels far away.

Psalm 27 points toward seven practices for remaining faithful during a spiritually dry season.

1. Talk to God About How You Are Feeling
2. Identify the Source of Your Struggle
3. Recognize What Has Been Capturing Your Attention
4. Remember Who God Is
5. Take One Faithful Step
6. Let Other Believers into Your Journey
7. Remain Faithful While You Wait

1. Talk to God About How You Are Feeling

David brings his fear and longing directly to God:

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.

Psalm 27:7–9 (NIV)

David’s prayer is so relatable here. He is honest about fearing that God may reject him, while also determined to keep seeking Him.

An honest prayer when God feels far away may be as simple as, “God, I do not feel close to You right now, and I do not know why.” It can also be gut-level honest and include disappointment over an unanswered prayer, anger over a painful loss, confusion about a decision, or no desire to pray.

Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (NIV). A short written prayer can help you describe how you feel, what changed, what you fear the dryness may mean, and your desire to keep seeking God through it.

Go Deeper: If prayer has started to feel mechanical, How to Experience God in Prayer can help you rebuild a more honest, personal conversation with God.

2. Identify the Source of Your Struggle

Feeling like God is distant can have many possible causes. It can develop during grief, physical exhaustion, constant activity, relational conflict, or a long period of disappointment. Isolation and neglected spiritual habits can contribute too. Sin can also affect your fellowship with God and needs confession.

Think back to when it started. Was there a major transition, worsening health, disrupted sleep, a painful loss, changed relationships, or habits that gradually crowded out time with God?

Reviewing your recent past can clarify what occurred and when. Write down what was happening when the dryness began and bring those circumstances before God. You may find that you need rest or have a grief that needs healing, a strained relationship that needs attention, sin that requires repentance, or even disappointment that has never been said aloud.

3. Recognize What Has Been Capturing Your Attention

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21, NIV). The objects you focus on and trust will influence the direction of your heart.

A relationship can gradually become the source of your security. Career progress can begin determining your worth. Entertainment can provide a way to avoid painful thoughts. Even a good desire can become too important when your relationship with God starts revolving around whether He fulfills it.

Spiritual fatigue can be an opportunity to notice what you have started to focus on. Thoughts that occupy a free moment and the losses you fear most can reveal what has distracted you. Bring any misplaced desire before God and acknowledge the place it has taken in your life.

A Resource for You: To help you examine what may be quietly competing for your trust, 6 Revealing Questions to Uncover Your Idol Worship Today offers a set of honest questions worth working through.

4. Remember Who God Is

David’s central desire in Psalm 27 is the presence of God:

One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4 (NIV)

During spiritual dryness, emotional response can become the scorecard for prayer, worship, Bible reading, and time with other believers. A morning in Scripture may then seem unproductive because it produced no noticeable feeling. But God’s faithfulness remains the same throughout those experiences.

Read these passages to learn more about God’s character:

• Psalm 23
• Psalm 103
• Isaiah 40
• Colossians 1:15–20

Try reading one, then writing what it revealed to you about God’s attributes. Use this quiet time to remember how often He has demonstrated that part of His character in Scripture and in your own life.

5. Take One Faithful Step

Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23, NIV).

Following Jesus includes daily obedience. This doesn’t mean that renewal means figuring out everything about your spiritual life all at once. You can begin with one manageable step, like reading a psalm each morning, spending ten minutes in prayer without your phone nearby, returning to weekly worship, or confessing a sin you have been avoiding talking to Him about.

The best place to begin is where it feels the most familiar. You can connect with Jesus by telling Him what you have been feeling and what has been missing. Even one small step like this will increase your desire to keep growing spiritually.

Get into the Habit: As you consider how God may be shaping you, the Yes! You Really CAN Change study walks through Ephesians 4 and how God forms the character of Christ in you over time.

6. Let Other Believers into Your Journey

Isolation can distort your perspective when you already feel disconnected from God. Ephesians 4 describes believers growing toward maturity as each member contributes to the body:

Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:11–16 (NIV)

Other Christians can pray with you, remind you of relevant Scripture, and notice changes in you before you recognize them yourself.

Reach out to at least one mature believer you know: a friend, pastor, small-group leader, mentor, or counselor. Ask them what they see. They may see a need for rest, repentance, practical support, renewed habits, or spiritual care. Ask them to check in with you over the next few weeks.

One note here: Spiritual numbness can also be connected to depression or another health concern. Ongoing hopelessness, significant changes in sleep or appetite, withdrawal from daily life, and difficulty functioning might warrant a conversation with a physician or qualified mental-health professional.

7. Remain Faithful While You Wait

David prayed, “Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path” (Psalm 27:11, NIV). In unresolved circumstances, he asked God to direct how he lived.

Romans 8:29 says that God is conforming His people to the image of His Son. A dry period may reveal misplaced desires, develop endurance, bring an old disappointment into prayer, or teach reliance on God’s character without immediate reassurance. Spiritual growth includes these changes of belief and conduct.

Psalm 27 closes with David’s decision to wait:

I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:13–14 (NIV)

Spiritual renewal follows no predictable schedule. David’s example calls for continued prayer and obedience during the wait.

Continue Seeking God

Feelings of closeness to God often return on their own timetable; we can’t control them. As you wait, prayer, careful self-examination, Scripture, obedience, and Christian community will keep you on the right path. Above all, remember that God remains present during spiritual dryness (even though He feels very far away).

If you feel spiritually dry today, start with this prayer:

Father, I feel distant from You and I do not fully understand why. Please search my heart and help me see what needs my attention. Reveal anything I need to surrender, and lead me in obedience. When my feelings are weak, remind me of who You are. Teach me to seek You and wait for You with courage. Amen.

If your spiritual life feels dry, the Growing Deeper in Christ: A 365-Day Journey to True Discipleship provides a daily rhythm to help you spend consistent time with God.