How To Hope During Spiritually Dry Seasons. Drink At God’s Well

white tailed deer drinking by forest stream/hope

There are seasons when prayer feels like speaking into a void, where hope seems lost. When the faith that once came easily now feels distant, and the longing for God’s presence is mixed with a real and aching grief. If you’ve been there — or you’re there right now — Psalm 42 was written for you.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” — Psalm 42:1–2 (NIV)

THE HONEST CRY OF A THIRSTY SOUL

Psalm 42 opens with one of Scripture’s most beloved images: a deer, parched and desperate, straining toward water. But the psalmist isn’t writing a nature poem. He’s writing a confession — the confession of someone whose soul is bone-dry and who knows that only God can satisfy that thirst.

Have you been there?

I have.

As I read this Psalm, I asked myself, “Have I ever been that desperate for God? Or has it been that I’ve been desperate for relief?” I’m ashamed to admit it’s been the latter too many times. But the psalmist who wrote this beautiful Psalm felt the same way. So when I feel like this, I too have a good talk with myself.

What makes this psalm so remarkable is its honesty. The writer doesn’t pretend the spiritual confidence he doesn’t feel. He weeps. He remembers better days when he led worship in the house of God. He asks why God seems so far away. He feels the taunts of those around him — “Where is your God?” He’s not above admitting he’s ashamed.

This is not weak faith. This is real faith. The kind that stays in conversation with God even when it’s painful.

cloudy sky during daytime/hope

“My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.” — Psalm 42:3–4 (NIV)

HOW TO PREACH HOPE TO YOURSELF WHEN DESPAIR SPEAKS

Three times in this psalm (and its companion, Psalm 43), the writer turns and speaks directly to his own soul: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

This is one of the most spiritually practical moves in all of Scripture. When our emotions are lying to us — and Satan is the biggest liar of all — when despair whispers that God has forgotten us, or that joy will never return, we can do what the psalmist does: interrupt the spiral and remind ourselves of what is true.

For times like this, we need an arsenal of Bible verses we can pull from memory and use them as arrows we shoot at Satan. Do you have such an arsenal? If not, this is a good time to gather some. Maybe put them on your phone so you can access them easily.

The psalmist doesn’t deny the darkness. He doesn’t slap a cheerful ending on a painful middle. But he refuses to let his feelings have the final word. He preaches truth to himself and waits for the day when praise will come again.

WHAT “DEEP CALLS TO DEEP” REALLY MEANS

In verse 7, the psalmist uses a striking phrase: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” It’s one of the more layered images in the psalm, and I find two possible meanings worth sitting with.

This psalm was written by the sons of Korah while in exile near Mount Hermon, where melting snows create powerful waterfalls and rushing rapids. With that backdrop, the psalmist may be describing the feeling of standing under a crashing waterfall — pummeled, breathless, unable to get a footing. Most of us have been there.

view of a waterfall/hope

But there’s a second meaning too: even in all that roar and chaos, our ache reaches Him. The deep of our need calls out to the deep of His presence — and He hears.

This is the hope of Psalm 42. Not that the hard season ends quickly, but that even in the middle of it, God is not absent. His steadfast love — the Hebrew word hesed, that covenant loyalty that never gives up — still commands the morning.

WHAT THIS PSALM TEACHES US ABOUT SPIRITUAL DRYNESS

Psalm 42 dismantles the idea that spiritual dryness is a sign of failed faith. Some of the most devoted followers of God in Scripture walked through long stretches of silence and longing. The Bible doesn’t hide these stories. It uses them so that we know we’re not alone.

If your soul is downcast today, this psalm gives you permission to say so to God. To bring the full weight of your confusion and grief into His presence. And then — slowly, carefully — to begin the practice of preaching hope to yourself. Not manufactured optimism, but anchored truth: I will yet praise him. There will be something to thank Him for again. We just have to get through this rough patch.

“By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me.” — Psalm 42:8 (NIV)

THREE THINGS TO DO WHEN YOUR SOUL IS DRY

  1. Bring the thirst honestly. The psalmist doesn’t dress up his longing. When you pray, you don’t need to arrive composed. Come parched, and tell God.
  2. Remember what God has done for you personally. The writer recalls past moments of worship and joy to anchor his faith in his present struggle. Your personal spiritual story has evidence of God’s faithfulness too. Look back at it. Draw upon your well of memories. That’s one of the reasons it’s a good idea to keep even a sketchy journal — so you can have those victories to return to.
  3. Preach hope to your soul. Speak it out loud. The refrain of this psalm is a choice — a deliberate act of self-counsel. When despair speaks, respond with what you know to be true.

If this resonated with you, I’d love to hear from you in the comments. And if you know someone walking through a dry season right now, consider sharing this with them.

A CLOSING PRAYER

“Lord, like the psalmist, I come to You thirsty. There are seasons when Your presence feels distant, and my soul feels dry — and yet, here I am, still reaching for You. That reaching is itself a gift from You, and I am grateful.”

Meet me in the deep places today. Hear the longing that’s too heavy for words. Remind me of Your steadfast love — that it has never failed me, that it will not let me go.

And when the dry season lifts, and I believe it will, let my praise rise up to You.

I put my hope in You. I will yet praise You, my Savior and my God.

Amen.

Blessings to each of you.