How can I overcome a feeling of spiritual emptiness?

We must turn to the words which form the special subject of this paper. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” Here we have set before us a truth of infinite preciousness and immense practical power. The Person of Christ is the divine spring of all freshness and spiritual energy. It is in Him alone the soul can find all it really needs. It is to Him we must go for all our personal refreshment and blessing. If at any time we find ourselves dull, heavy and barren, what are we to do? Make efforts to raise the tone? No, this will never do. What then? Let him “Come to Me and drink.”

It is regretfully possible that a Christian may find himself not in the spirit of prayer. When such is the case, he ought to judge himself and cry to God to lead him into a right state of soul. There is no value in form without power, but God is the abiding source of all power and freshness. And, blessed be His name, “He has given us the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Hence, when you find yourself not in a spirit of prayer, do not have recourse to a form but to the living God.

"Praying always," etc. If we are not walking in the Spirit, Satan will turn even our very cares and duties into occasions of sin, by making us do them in the wrong time or in the wrong way. He will seek to make our duties and our prayers conflict, because he knows that it is only as they are done in a prayerful spirit that we shall have blessing in them. If otherwise there may be much busy activity, it will but deaden the soul. If you say, "I cannot pray, I cannot find God's presence now," it is just the very time you need to pray. Where will you find strength? In staying away? No. When people say they cannot find God's presence, the truth is very generally that they have found it, and that it has discovered to them the evil, careless, unprofitable state in which they were before, though they did not know it then because they were not in His presence. There may be distraction of thought, but let not that hinder your "praying;" it is the very thing which shows you have a need to be supplied. Why is there this distraction? Because your mind has become occupied with other things beside the Lord. Go to Him. You may, whilst in this state, have less freedom in your prayers. The joy you would otherwise have had may be denied, yet you will return with profit, and more power of communion.

Under such circumstances what is to be done? There is but one way of escape, and that is to seek the presence of God. We may go to Him assured that He is more desirous that we should live in the power of divine things than we can be, moreover He, who brought us into them at the beginning, is the only One who can restore the joy of them to us when that joy is lost.

Through such things the believer learns that God is not far off, as though He were merely an impersonal Creator of the universe, having little interest in His creatures. He learns to know God as his own God, and his heart is moved to seek Him early, with no delay; for the very time of felt deprivation is the time when the sweetness of the presence of God should be cultivated. On such occasions of being alone with God, the thirsting soul will find delight in the comfort of fellowship with God.

If then in faith we cry out for the living God, languishing for Him as in a dry and weary land without water, the results will be far better than we had ever expected. Our inmost soul will be refreshed and filled with goodness.

Now one way to sanctify such friendships is to make them the materials and the incentives of prayer. For example, there may be seasons of spiritual languor when you have little heart to pray. The throne of grace seems distant or uninviting. A deep sloth has seized the inner man. You are not inclined to ask any blessing for yourself. You are too carnal to confess any sin, and too sullen to acknowledge any mercy — perhaps so earthly or atheistical that you do not pant — nay, do not breathe after God, the living God.

At such a season of deadness you will sometimes find that you can pray for others when you cannot for yourself. Do even so. Make your solicitude for them a motive for prayer. Begin by laying their wants before the Lord, and you will find out your own. Come in their company, and you may soon find yourself left alone with God. This is not to desecrate prayer, but to consecrate friendship. It exalts and purifies affection, and by making it friendship in the Lord, makes it more lasting now, and more likely to be renewed hereafter.

In such a condition of things, what is the resource of the faithful one? To what should he betake himself? Prayer; patient, persevering prayer; secret communion with God; deep and real exercise of soul in His presence, where alone we can arrive at a true estimate of ourselves, and things around us: and not only so, but also obtain spiritual power to act for God amongst our brethren, or toward the world without.

You have our fullest sympathy. We have met many of God's dear children in precisely your condition. Indeed they have, in stating their exercises, used your very words. “This,” you will say, “is poor comfort for me.” And yet it may not be so. We know a very dear saint of God who was under exercise for years and the only thing that gave him the smallest comfort was Psalm 88. Why? Because there was not a single bit of comfort in it. Yet it was written by a saint of God. Therefore she might be a saint, though she was thoroughly miserable. We write not thus, dear friend, to lead you to be content in your present dark and unhappy condition. Far from it. We beseech you to look off from your feelings, your experiences, your evidences and your faith itself, and rest in Christ and His finished work. God is satisfied with Christ on your behalf. Is He not enough to satisfy you? Do you want to add something of your own to Christ? This is really the question. May God bless you!

"E. H." Your case is by no means an uncommon one; but this, you will say, is poor comfort for you. We know no remedy but in looking off to Jesus. You will never be really happy so long as you continue to look at your own ever-changing feelings. You can only find rest in Jesus and His finished work. Do not be "trying" to believe. If you were to say to a friend, "I am trying to believe what you say," he would consider it a very poor compliment. Let your heart muse on the love of God, on the finished work of Christ, and on the testimony of the Holy Ghost in Scripture, and as you muse, the fire of devotion will kindle, and you will be able to sing and give thanks. May God chase away the clouds and mists, and pour in upon your precious soul the bright and blessed beams of His salvation!