In Christian life, there are times when we experience deep satisfaction with the things of God, but there are also times when we do not.
In Christian mystical literature, such times are often referred to as times of dryness, and they are sometimes compared to the seasons of neutrality that are known to afflict married couples. Such times may or may not indicate that there is a problem in the relationship, but in either case they serve as occasions upon which we can be obedient to our master’s command to watch and wait.
In The Dark Night of the Soul, John of the Cross argues that such times have an important role to play in the spiritual growth of believers. John observes that the religious convert, even though he seeks after godly things, still continues to struggle with the ungodly desires of his fallen nature. He further observes that this struggle insinuates itself into religious life, so that even in our prayers, our studies, our worship, and our acts of service, there is often an admixture of pride, envy, anger, and so forth. In other words, the fact that we find satisfaction in religious things is not always a sign that our motives are godly. And sometimes God allows us to go through times of dryness as a way of purifying our hearts from those things which merely pretend to godliness.
in the act of faith man puts to death his independent self... and is wholly dependent upon the Creator.
All of this is part of the larger process of dying to self, a process that begins at conversion, but continues throughout the whole of our life. Without question, the process of dying to self is painful. Like the body, the soul is woven together out of sensitive psychological tissue, and the mortification of the soul consists in nothing less than the tearing and rebuilding of this tissue. But this is the cross that we must take up, the crucifixion we must suffer, the death that presages our resurrection. Apart from it we can claim Christ in word, but if we refuse to share in his sufferings, we can in no ways share in his resurrection. Indeed, faith itself points to the cross, for in the act of faith man puts to death his independent self and is raised to life a new creature wholly dependent upon the Creator.
Although we might wish it otherwise, the life of the believer is not one of unbroken continuity, but one of continual death and rebirth.As mortal creatures, we cannot sustain ourselves, but are sustained by the one who has the power to raise the dead.And yet, it is precisely through this process that we are educated so as to distinguish the mortal from the immortal, the worldly from the spiritual, the ungodly from the godly.It is through this process that we, who are in the midst of death, come to know him who is the source of all life.
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