09/06/2026
Have you entered a doldrum in regard to your faith and prayer life? Perhaps you are new to prayer and are seeking that first gust of wind in your sails; the one that you know should be there. Or perhaps you are a salty Christian that has somehow become becalmed. Times such as this require that we lean into our faith all the more, and continue to pray. Believing should become the hope that carries us through those times when we seem to be going through the motions of our religion without any forward progress. We must believe, hope, trust, and continue to lift up our prayers unto the Lord.
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11:24 ESV
There are times in our lives of faith when things seem to have reached a place where we are on autopilot, and the routine nature of everyday living, believing, and faithfulness have taken control of us. Have you ever felt this way? Are you there now? Times like this can be so exasperating, and if we are not careful, they will lead us to a lesser place in our faith. So, what are we to do? How are we to combat and overcome this feeling?
Well one way to make it through these periods of spiritual calm is to simply tough it out... to fall back on our faith, continue to pray, and wait for the wind of the Spirit to pick us up again. Pastor Andrew Murray spoke of doing just that when he wrote these words...
“Even without any change in feelings, you have accepted the spiritual gift by faith. The Holy Spirit may seem hidden, but you may count on Him to pray through you, even if only sighing. In due time you will become conscious again of His full presence and power.” - Andrew Murray
Seasoned sailors know that the wind will return again when they find themselves becalmed, and for them this might be a good strategy, but for some of us who have not experienced this before, this is not yet engrained in our nature, and the calm we experience while waiting for forward motion drives us to distraction. So, what are those of us who feel this way to do when becalmed?
It is true that some of us need to see action in our religion in order to feed our faith. It is a lot like marriage... some couples can sit quietly together and read, or sew, while all the while their love for one another continues to grow unabated, yet others require constant motion and to be actively doing things in order to move their relationship forward. For the “goers” sitting, even for a minute, can be painful and unsettling. If one of the partners wants to stay home and relax for a while, the other is soon asking “Don’t you love me anymore?”, or saying things like “The Fire is gone from our marriage!”
So how do we combat such times in our faith? How do we respond when God says “wait”, and our sails go slack? Are we of the nature that we can lean on our faith and it will see us through, or are we immediately feeling unsettled, and find that our faith is challenged? For those whose faith sees them through the calm times, and the stillness, it is almost comforting and I will give you the same advice that Andrew Murray gave, but in a more modern way... listen…
I have watched the movie “Finding Nemo” with my grandchildren more times than I care to recount, but there is one scene in that movie where Nemo’s father has become distraught and doesn’t know how he is going to make it through this ordeal of searching for his son. At that moment his companion, Dory, gives him some words of wisdom that can help us as well, she tells him in songlike fashion... “just keep swimming, swimming, swimming; just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!” This is a child’s way of saying “persevere!” Or for us in our faith we would hear it as “just keep praying, praying, praying; just keep praying, praying, praying!” This is all that those who can sit calmly in their faith need to hear as they wait for the wind of the Spirit to pick up once more.
But those more active and less patient souls require more than this, they demand constant action. It has been my observation that for them one of two things happens... they either find a solution for themselves, or God gives them something to occupy them as they wait. The latter might involve a job to do, or it might be a season of suffering that challenges them to look deeper within themselves. When God chooses the solution for us there isn’t much for us to do other than to obey, or to search for Him in the midst of our work or suffering, but if we want to address the situation ourselves, I recommend the book of Psalms 119 as a starting place... read it over and over as you study its advice.
Psalms 119 begins by telling us what Dory told Nemos’ father… “keep on swimming”.
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”
Psalms 119:1-3 ESV
But then it goes on to give us additional advice that will help us through. It tells us to actively do such things as studying God’s Word...
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
Psalms 119:9 ESV
It tells us to actively testify to the Lord’s commandments, and all He has done for us in the past; to actively meditate on Him, and His Word!
“With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
Psalms 119:13-16 ESV
So, we are told to perfect our faith by actively pursuing God’s Word, and dwelling on His commandments...
“Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.”
Psalms 119:29-30 ESV
We are also told to pursue our love for Him all the more...
“I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!”
Psalms 119:32 ESV
And we are told to turn away from our bad habits, and those things that detract from our faith...
“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.”
Psalms 119:37-38 ESV
These activities are repeated in verse over and over in this Psalm as it instructs and encourages us, and if we do them then even the most active natured believers among us can make it through the doldrums of their faith, and we will not lose hope in the promise that the wind will return; that the bow of our ship will once again rise and cut through the waves... that the salt spray of faith will return to our faces and the excitement of our growing faithfulness will fill our sails once more with life.
“This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.”
Psalms 119:50 ESV
So, if we are becalmed spiritually, then these are the things we must do... we must pray, be faithful, be hopeful, trust, wait, work according to His will, suffer if we must, or begin a journey through Psalm 119 as we increase ourselves in God’s Word, and wait on the Holy Spirit to fill our sails once more. However you approach the calm times in your faith, God never abandons you... how is it then that you will choose to wait for the wind of faith to return?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the calm times in our relationship when I must lean into my faith, and increase my trust and hope in you. Help me Holy Father as I struggle through these challenging times, and seek you, not only in the exhilaration of the storm, but in the slack times when all is so calm that the surface of my faith reveals me like a mirror. Help me Merciful Father to use these peaceful opportunities for introspection, and to evaluate how well I am doing in this our journey together. Show me those things about myself that hold back my ability to release my all to you, and increase my trust in letting go as I say yes to your will. Bolster my faith Lord, and use the quiet days as a much-needed respite, and a time to repair those ropes that have frayed, sails that need mending, and to make various other spiritual corrections. Show me the frailties in my ship of faith that can sink me in the fierce storms ahead if not tended to, and then stand beside me as I wait at the wheel for the very first hint of a breeze. I trust in you Father, I praise you and thank you even before my sails begin to quiver, because I know you are faithful to your Word. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, my Captain, and my Harbor Master. I hear your voice on calm days and your shout above the storm; you are ever with me. Great are you in times when I struggle, but greater yet in the seasons of calm that I experience in my faith. Praised be your name now and forevermore; whether on a still sea as I wait there becalmed, or in a gale as I rush headlong with the cutting wind of faith.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV
Amen!
Rich Forbes