As Christians, we all go through various seasons and stages in our lives. We have times of great testing as well as times of tremendous breakthrough. We have quiet seasons of rest when there is not much drama as well as seasons of upheaval. We are by turns confident and insecure, faith-filled and fearful, joyful and sorrowful, fervent and complacent.
I've recently been in a season that I did not understand. All the circumstances in my life were good. I had no major situations that might tempt me to worry. I should have been thankful for the time of rest between battles - jubilant and excited - ready to "charge hell with a squirt gun", but instead I just felt disconnected. I remember a particular Sunday morning when God was moving in the church service, working in the lives of people, and tremendous joy and excitement was all around me. I felt strangely unmoved, even though ordinarily I would have been thrilled at the ministry that was all around me. It was one of those services when someone could have said, "If that don't light your fire - your wood's wet!"
By that definition - I guess that was me - a big piece of wet wood. I sought counsel with a couple from my church who shared some godly wisdom with me about how to cope with the way I was feeling. I put some of their advice to work, but it was just like a big cloak of lethargy had settled over me and I had a difficult time motivating myself to even take the steps I needed to take.
One day I was just rolling all these thoughts around in my mind, wondering what was wrong with me. I remembered the "your wood's wet" analogy and wallowed around in that mental picture for a little while and then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Wet wood isn't a problem for me." Just that quickly, I remembered the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
The people of Israel had sinned against God by worshipping false gods and Elijah challenged them to make a choice that day to follow the true God - one that would send the fire to burn up the sacrifice that was offered to him. (1 Kings 18 tells the story)
Elijah rebuilt the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down, using twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he dug a ditch around the altar, put wood on the altar and laid the pieces of the bull for the sacrifice on the wood. Then he commanded the people to fill four jars with water and pour it on the meat and on the wood. He had them repeat the soaking with the water three times. The water was running off the altar and filled the ditch around the altar.
When the time came for the evening sacrifice, Elijah went near the altar and prayed, asking God to prove that he was the God of Israel and Elijah was his servant. He asked God to show the people that he was indeed God so that their minds would be changed.
Then fire from the Lord came down and burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the ground around the altar. It also dried up the water in the ditch. When all the people saw this, they fell down to the ground, crying, "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!"
When God Himself reminds you of what He is able to do, it's much easier to let Him motivate you than for you to motivate yourself. I'm on the way back to a richer, fuller relationship with Him, instead of remaining disconnected.
I know that we live by faith, not by feelings, but often our feelings are signals that we need to examine ourselves to make sure that we are in alignment with God. There will be spiritual highs and lows in all our lives, but I know a God who is able to light that fire within us when we've grown weary or complacent or sorrowful. No matter how wet your wood is - God is able!
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