Facing Disappointment in The Quiet Place

Disappointment touches all of our lives. We grieve the loss of someone or some dream that has been shattered. Our expectations perhaps became imbalanced by reality, and we unwittingly set ourselves up for disappointment. 

At times such as these, we absolutely must find a quiet place to refresh and renew our spirit, and get grounded ... refocus. We need a pause in time to deal with the disappointment that has so enveloped our lives. 

Everyone needs a Quiet Place

Daily life tensions, and the demands of life, along with the unknowns of the future, create an unending tug of anxiety, and we can often feel a growing sense of unrest within. Life is full of pathways that lead to hardship, suffering and disappointment. 

All too often we seek to find short term counterfeit pleasure from happy circumstances. Many times we know very little of the true infusion of spiritual joy within, in spite of  tough times and adverse circumstances. We all long to find inner peace.

Sometimes we lose our way, or stand at a crossroad, unsure of which way to turn. Every day our minds are filled with distractions and pressures that trouble us. In reality they are just that...distractions. The world promises the key to happiness, but that key comes with a price, and the happiness promised is short term and empty of true meaning. We get ourselves set up to be disappointed time and time again.

Happiness depends on happy circumstances. There is a pattern that repeats itself in our lives. If your happenings don't happen to happen like you hope they happen, how can you be happy? Deep inside, most of us long for an inner peace that transcends tough circumstances; a peace that will see us through stressful times of duress, and chaotic periods of time pressure and seasons of disappointment.  

Finding your Quiet Place

I like to walk in the forest when the dew is fresh, when the world seems to be at a moment of hush. Times of chosen solitude centers us to be alone and still...to just enjoy God's creation... translating those moments of incredible solitude and peace into a quiet place with God.

The Quiet Place is a kind of spiritual counterpart to a walk in the forest. No matter where you are, or what you might be doing, my hope is that you can pause here and find encouragement, inspiration and hope.

The Quiet Place does have a biblical foundation.  In a post Edenic world,  Jesus Christ has provided for each of us direct access to the presence of God. It is only through Him that we can truly know God and enjoy communion with Him. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6.

The disappointments and burdens of life are many, and they impact each of us differently, but in reality they are very similar. Wherever we may live on this planet, we share in common the reality that life is hard, struggles are painful, and we need an inner strength to rise from our beds each and every day and face the challenges that are before us.  God calls us wherever we are, and in whatever circumstance we are in to cultivate an intimate quiet time with Him.

The Quiet Place is to put Life on Pause 

We need to hit the pause button in life to stop the crazy spinning of everything that distracts us from stillness with God. He longs for us to joy in knowing Him, and drawing near to His heart.

"Be Still and Know that I am God." Psalm 46:10 

The Quiet Place has been created as an opportunity to seize a moment in time where we can stop the chaos and stress of  life, and reflect upon what is truly needed in each of our lives. We all need a time to meet with God to gain insight, needed perspective, and inner strength. We each long for God whether we realize it or not. That quiet desperation that resides within, creates a restlessness that is never satisfied until we find our way to meet with God.

The disciples knew what it was like to be exhausted, hungry, and overwhelmed with stress, fatigue, and the the demands of life.

“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a Quiet Place, and get some rest.”  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” Mark 6:30-32

God Speaks in the Stillness of Special Moments

There are many examples in the Bible where God's gentlest whispers were only heard in quiet places.  Elijah along the brook Cherith, David in the cave at Adullam, Moses in the wilderness of Midian, and Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. They all met with God when alone and in The Quiet Place.

The burdens of life, when carried in our own strength, weakens our bodies, torments our minds, and deadens our spirit.  We often rush to the urgent tasks of our day, and miss the most important priority, which is a time of quiet worship with God. When we take the time to worship at His feet, and fellowship with Him, the result will be that we will find peace and spiritual renewal in The Quiet Place

The race of life, when run in our own strength,  leads each of us to a place of eventual exhaustion, a sense of being overwhelmed by life, and eventual burnout.

May we each be refreshed daily by our Gentle Shepherd as we meet with Him in The Quiet Place

Psalm 23

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside Quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff,  they comfort me.You prepare a table before me  in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

Take a few moments to listen to this worshipful song  entitled Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli

Spiritual Dryness in The Quiet Place

There are times in each of our lives when our heart and soul can feel much like a dry barren desert. Our time of spiritual devotions can feel empty of fresh joyous vitality. 

We may have exhausted easily accessible inner resources due to any number of life related influences, and are becoming burned out. Spiritual and emotional burnout is not as uncommon as we would think. It is a condition that most of us would rather not acknowledge that we experience from time to time. For some reason it feels like we failed at something.  

It often happens gradually in our lives, and like a slow fading shadow at sunset, before we realize it, our zeal, inner passion, and sense of spiritual power is but a whisper of what it had been. 

When we reach deep within to seek God, or to find resources to cope with a trying set of stressful circumstances, our hands find only desert sand. 

Spiritual Dryness in the Desert

There was a time when David's life was full of hurt, confusion and doubt. His understanding of God's Purpose for his life, and how it played out in his daily experience, were hard to bring together. 

We can all face that puzzling sense of incongruity when what we understand to be God's Will for us, and what we are experiencing in our present circumstances, seem to be polar opposites.  

For David, it made no sense that God could promise one thing, that he would be the King of Israel,  and yet here he was hiding from King Saul, and fleeing for his life in the dry barren Desert of Judah. Weary and worn out, he prayed:

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." Psalm 63:1; 6

We can come to The Quiet Place to commune with God to satisfy our thirst and at times discover that our experience there has seemed unsatisfying, and we leave discovering that our throat is still parched and dry. 

We can be inundated with Bible resources, solid teaching, and worshipful music, but find that we are merely treading water of late in terms of our experience and enjoyment of God. We can be up, we can feel down, we can feel joy and then we can drift into a kind of apathy.

The experience of revival, and times of spiritual renewal, are wonderful, joyous, and sometimes overflow with euphoric emotion. However, God also wants to know if we can walk by faith, and not by mere feelings.... Even in the backside of a personal desert.

The Lure of a Mirage in the Desert

If we are not careful, we can equate a kind of "feeling" to be the compass of our spirituality. To follow a compass that has no True North, is like following a GPS that is locked into coordinates that are constantly moving, shifting location, and leading to one dead-end after another. It is in the pursuit of the lure of a mirage, that leads to disappointment and despair(See Jeremiah 2:13).

David himself cried out to God while in the desert,

  

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.... I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.”   Psalm 69:1-4

David was reminded every day, that any living thing that has no regular water source, can literally wither and die in the desert. It was also a stark reality for him. He was alone, afraid, and had nothing but God Himself to sustain him. He used a metaphor describing a deer experiencing a literal thirst for water, with his spiritual thirst for God. 
 

“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? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long. “Where is your God?”  Psalm 42:1-3 

When was the last time that I thirsted for God with such desperation  and intensity?

 The Reasons for Spiritual Dryness

The experience of spiritual dryness happen to all of us at times, and there are several factors that may contribute:

• It may be the result of missing out on our times of worship in The Quiet Place. 

• .        Living too long on the milk of God’s Word and not getting into the meat and depth of Bible study, so as to discern how to deal with the tougher trials that may be happening.

• .        It may be because of an illness, and the medications that sometimes blunt the physical and emotional edge in our lives. 

• .        Long seasons of depression and medications to treat it can mimic a sense of spiritual apathy.

• .        It can be the result of resisting God’s Will to be Lord in our lives, and then avoiding time with Him.

•       Engaging in sinfulness, and refusing to repent and change, dims the passion of our heart for God.

• .        Feeling angry or hurt by God, believing that He should grant something, and withdrawing from Him as a result.

• .        Prolonged periods of trial, suffering and intense ministry can result in spiritual burnout.

• .        Being tested by God to live by the truth of His Word, and exercise faith, even when our feelings do not experience joy and peace when we are walking in fellowship with God.

•       Going through a time of pruning in our life whereby God shapes our heart so that our abiding in Him can be fruitful and unhindered.  

Spiritual Balance in the Desert

        
God's Word assures us that if we Draw near to Him, He will Draw near to us (See Hebrews 7:19-20; 24-26; James 4:8). Paul reminds us that the natural man does not discern Truth in the way that the spiritual man does. His use of the word, pneumatikos in I Cor. 2:15, for the word "...he that is spiritual.." is translated as: "..one who is governed by, or under the rule of  the Spirit of God." Vines NT Greek.

     It takes spiritual insight to discover that we can go through the desert, and feel that God is distant, not know why, but still hold on to God's Word, and the assurance of His promise. His Word reminds us that He will  never leave us, and that He will always keep us ever near His heart, even if we don't always feel that He is there (See Hebrews 13:5; Matt. 28:20 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.").

     "The unfolding of your words gives light;  it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.”  Psalm 119:130-131

 In The Quiet Place there is an Honesty with God

     "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”  Psalm 139:1-3

      In The Quiet Place there is an Openness with God

     "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:22-24

     In The Quiet Place there is Healing from God

     "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:12-14

     Within The Quiet Place God desires to commune with us, encourage us and strengthen us. Before long, a spark will alight in your heart, and then it will become a flame within. The reality of your living faith will create a miracle as God’s all encompassing love, pours out to you, comes alive in you, and then it will flow through you, to a dry and barren world. 

  

     Only God can quench the thirst of the human soul. The world is full of chaos, turmoil, political unrest and economic instability. Many people who sought for satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment in the world, have discovered that they are desperately empty, and have lost their way in the wilderness of life without God.. 

     The seasoned desert traveler can find these lost souls and lead them out of the desert to the true source of life…. Jesus Christ


"Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-9