“What do you do when you don’t desire the Word of God? Or when you read it and don’t see anything that gives you joy? Or when your joy is weak and disintegrates before the allurements of the world? What do you do if you are not satisfied in the God of the Bible, but prefer the pleasures of the world? Did Paul or the psalmists or the celebrated saints of history ever struggle with this? Yes, they did. And we should take heart. We all struggle with seasons of lukewarmness and spiritual numbness of heart. There are times in the lives of the most godly people when spiritual hunger becomes weak, and darkness threatens to consume the light, and everything but the vaguely remembered taste of joy evaporates.” – Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, 137

Imagine, you are not alone in your season of feeling barren and dry. Your lack of joyful pleasure in God and Scripture and prayer is not a feeling that you alone must bear! So Piper reminds us that not only can we face encouragement and exhortation from the celebrated saints of history, but we find encouragement from authors of the very book that we sometimes struggle to joyfully read! To think that the very psalmists often struggled in the same ways that we do and they still “made it” into the Bible is extremely encouraging! Apparently God is a bit more understanding and merciful and compassionate about the struggles that we often face. Once again, God’s grace is remarkable!

Thank you, Piper. Thank you for reminding us that normal people don’t always desire God in the ways that we should and that we must fight for joy!