Pray, Stay, Say: 3 Things to Do When You Find No Joy in the Word
A chocolate peanut butter shake. That was about all I could think of. Well, a chocolate peanut butter shake and a cup of real (not instant) coffee. I had just spent two weeks in a small rural town in China that offered no western food but plenty of unfamiliar cuisine. While I realize that two weeks doesn’t sound like very long, I was still quite ready for something familiar, comforting, and delightful. My mission team and I rode a train through the night back to the city of Chengdu, and our first stop was Peter’s Tex-Mex Grill—a favorite place for food from home. We each ordered our much-anticipated menu items and dove in with pure joy.
Some days, spending time in God’s Word is like that chocolate peanut butter milkshake experience. Nothing has ever tasted so good! But some days—some seasons—spending time in the Word is more like eating tofu and bean sprouts. You know it’s good for you, but it could hardly be called “delightful.”
You know that you’re supposed to delight in Scripture. Peter calls us to “desire the pure milk of the word” like a newborn desires its mother’s milk (1 Pet. 2:2), and Psalm 1 tells us that the delight of the blessed man is in the Law of the Lord (v. 2). But it’s not exactly something you can turn on like a light switch, is it? How exactly does one go about making oneself delight in something?
While I don’t want to pretend that what I’m about to say is like some fairy godmother pixie dust—just sprinkle it on and POOF! your troubles will be over. In truth, it will probably take time for your heart to delight in the Word, but I do believe that it will happen. Here are three things to put into practice if your time in God’s Word feels more like eating tofu than it does like enjoying a milkshake.
1. Pray.
Our tendency to hide goes back a long time—all the way to our first parents, Adam and Eve. After partaking of the forbidden fruit, they put on some hastily sewn fig leaves and hid themselves in the Garden from God, their omniscient, omnipresent Creator. Not surprisingly, they didn’t stay hidden very long.
Jonah thought he could get away from God by hopping a ship going in the opposite direction of Nineveh. That didn’t work out too well for him either.
David tried to cover up his transgression with Bathsheba by manipulating Uriah, and when that didn’t work, he resorted to murder.
Yes, hiding our sin and shame has a long, odious history. So it’s not surprising that it would be our natural instinct to try to hide our lack of joy in Scripture from God. After all, it’s not very polite to tell the author of a book—particularly a book that you’re supposed to love—that you just aren’t feeling it; that it’s probably great for some people, but you actually find it to be a bit of a snooze.
While it may feel unnatural and risky, the first thing to do if you lack joy in the Word is to pray. Come clean with God. While He doesn’t need you to tell Him what’s in your heart, it’s liberating to remember that He already knows anyway. You’re not going to scare Him off. In fact, He probably knew before you did.
And yet, He still wants you to come to Him. We can and should boldly cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). Jesus assures us that if we ask for anything in His name, the Father will give it (John 15:7). We don’t have to wonder whether our delight in God’s Word is God’s will. A prayer for joy is a prayer God will answer.
So don’t hide. Don’t try to avoid God because you’re ashamed that you’re not delighting in the Word. Be honest with your Father and beseech Him for His help to give you the joy that you know you should have.
2. Stay.
Do you know the secret to exercising consistently? Find a workout that you actually enjoy doing. If you like running, run. If you like swimming, swim. If you like playing pickleball, play pickleball. If you hate your chosen method of working out, your exercise regimen probably won’t last very long. It’s just hard for us to stick with something we don’t enjoy.
The same often goes for Scripture reading. In the midst of a dry or discouraging season when your joy wanes and delight disappears, chances are it’s going to be difficult for you to continue to come back to the Word. But that’s exactly what you ought to do.
Stay in the Word! Don’t go away. Delighting in God’s Word will never come from not spending time in it. It just won’t happen. In fact, the opposite probably will. So though you will want to back out and find something more palatable to do, resist the urge. Keep coming back to the Word. It will pay off! Eventually the Holy Spirit will do His work in your heart, and your desires will change. It may be more like a slow burn than a light switch, but God will accomplish this work in your heart if you just keep coming to the Word.
3. Say.
Finally, if you’re struggling to find delight in the Word, don’t stay a Lone Ranger. Instead, say something. The same impulse that leads us to hide from God can impel us to hide from each other too. We wrongly assume that our situation is unique, that no one else would understand; or if they do understand they’ll think less of us.
While it is possible that your friend could respond in one of those ways when you open up about your struggles, it’s far more likely that she will understand your feelings and will even open up about her own problems in this area. God has given us the Church to help us help one another. That’s why Paul told the Galatians to “carry one another’s burdens” (6:2). We were never intended to navigate the valleys, deserts, mountains, or plains all by ourselves.
So, ask a trusted friend out to coffee or over for lunch and take the risk of vulnerability. Ask questions. What does she do in dry seasons? How has she found a way out? Also, invite questions. Be willing to answer hard questions about your time in the Word and your time spent pursuing other things. Be honest and vulnerable.
You might also set up a plan to stay in touch throughout the week for some accountability about how things are going. You could study a portion of Scripture together, or meet regularly to pray. Or perhaps you’ll just enlist the prayers of your friend. Whatever you do, don’t play into the enemy’s hands by staying isolated in your problem. Take a risk and say something to someone else.
What do you do when your time in God’s Word is as palatable as a plate of bean sprouts?
Pray about your heart. Invite God into your desire to find joy in His Word. Ask Him to change your desires.
Stay in the Word. Don’t quit just because you’re not finding joy like you wish you would.
Say something. Allow a friend or two or three into your season of struggle. The help, prayers, and accountability they can give could be invaluable.
If you’ve ever longed for a deeper relationship with God but you’re not sure where to begin, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth demystifies the process of coming to know God intimately in A Place of Quiet Rest. Nancy shares from her heart and life how a daily devotional time will forever change your relationship with Jesus, offers practical advice to overcome pitfalls you may encounter, and gives encouragement—and tools—to enable you to seek after God for a lifetime. Get your copy in the Revive Our Hearts online store.
