Every child of God goes through times of spiritual drought and dryness. When I was a college student, I encountered this for the first time and it concerned me greatly. I was helped by reading a little book called The Green Letters by Miles Stanford. The title has been changed now to Principles of Spiritual Growth. It is online at: http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/goodnews/growth.html

One quote from this book that helped me immensely on this subject is found in chapter 2 on the theme of Time. Graham Scroggie, a preacher who is now with Jesus, writes:

“Spiritual renewal is a gradual process. All growth is progressive, and the finer the organism, the longer the process. It is from measure to measure: thirtyfold, sixtyfold, an hundredfold. It is from stage to stage: ‘first the blade, then the ear, and after that, the full corn in the ear.’ And it is from day to day. How varied these are!

There are great days, days of decisive battles, days of crises in spiritual history, days of triumph in Christian service, days of the right hand of God upon us. But there are also idle days, days apparently useless, when even prayer and holy service seem a burden. Are we, in any sense, renewed in these days? Yes, for any experience which makes us more aware of our need of God must contribute to spiritual progress…”

Thus, real spiritual progress and development can and oftentimes takes place even through the dry times.