I’ve been struggling with spiritual lethargy lately.
Actually, my desire is there, but I’m not attuned to God’s voice like I should be. Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 resonated in parts today: He speaks of people who’s hearts have become hardened. The result? They “lost all sensitivity.” (4:18,19).
Yes, that’s it exactly. Like listening to people chatting away on recliners beside a pool, except you’re three feet underwater. They sound muffled to you, distorted, far away. Are they muffled? Distorted? Far away? No, the pool is making it seem like that.
That’s how I’d been feeling with God. I realized that one sweet prompting at a time, I’d been shutting God out, grieving His Spirit, closing myself off from the intimacy He’s trying to build between us. Letting other stuff in there instead.
What do I do next? Not strive or push or fast or anything else from the reservoir of my own pious effort. I simply admit my sin, yield again, smile toward him again, open myself to what He’s bringing or saying. Again. And one prompting at a time, I walk with him. The first prompting comes.
In that moment, I rediscovered the beautiful grace of my Daddy God. What is his first instruction to me, his erring child, his distracted student with too many petty things on his mind? Take a nap.
Honestly, that’s what he said. And so, enjoying the intimacy, I fade into a delicious snooze. When I wake, life seems just a little bit clearer.
Because it is.