Walking Through Dry Places

What does it mean to walk through 'dry places?' I think we have all done it. There are times when, no matter how much you pray, it feels like your prayers don't go past the ceiling. You fast, and it doesn't seem like God even notices. You try to do your best to do what God would have you to do, and it just all falls apart. At least on some level, you feel like giving up. These are dry times. Why does God allow us to go through that? My best answer would be that it builds character. If nothing else, it helps you to be understanding and compassionate when you meet other people that have to reach up to touch bottom.

To be honest, we Americans are pretty spoiled. We can feel down and depressed because none of the three flavors of ice cream in the freezer appeal to us right now (Darn! No Moose Tracks or Chunky Monkey tonight--should I run out to the store and buy some? I don't want to get dressed and go out...). And I say 'we Americans,' but there are people right here in this country that would give you all the money in their pockets for one our leftovers...

What does it mean for a spirit to walk through dry places? I heard a really good explanation for that many years ago, and, unfortunately, I didn't write it down. It seemed so obvious (once it was explained to me), I didn't think I would have any trouble remembering. In any case, this is the best explanation that I can muster: When Jesus cast Legion out of the young man, in Mark chapter 5, Legion asked that, instead of just casting them out, that He allow them to go possess a herd of swine that were nearby (Why were Jews keeping pigs? probably because they didn't have garbage disposals). Why would it be important to each demon to be allowed to go into another warm body? Remember that demons are spiritual beings, designed to live without any physical form. Yet here we have these demons begging for host bodies. Was this so that they could kill the pigs? I suspect just the opposite--that Jesus didn't let them take full control of the pigs right away, and the swine, possibly not aware that they were being possessed, certainly knew that something was going terribly wrong for them, and, in a panic, ran into the water and drowned themselves--killing the warm bodies that the demons wanted so much. End result for the demons is that they are again without a host body, almost as though they hadn't been allowed to possess the pigs in the first place. So, what was the point? Possibly the demons wanted to do one last little bit of mischief before moving on, but I think it was more complicated than that. These spiritual beings use host bodies as insulation, a kind of a buffer between them and other spiritual beings. God created us as free moral agents. He allows us to choose whether to accept Him, or to allow Him into our hearts. He could force His way in, but He doesn't. Of course, if we don't let Him in, there are other spiritual beings that won't ask. They cannot occupy the same flesh at the same time that He does, but if He isn't there, we, as individuals, apart from God, cannot stop them. But that makes those of us who have rejected God the only refuge from God for any other spiritual being who might wish to avoid God. God is omnipresent--He is everywhere, except in the bodies of people who just won't allow Him in.

Jesus talked about an unclean spirit being forced out of a man in Matthew chapter 12. A lot of people misread this passage. The subject of the sentence is the unclean spirit: "43) When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he (the unclean spirit) walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44) Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out (I will go back to the man that I came out of); and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished (Jesus has been here, and cleaned this man up, but now He is gone). 45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." The italicized parentheticals are mine, but I wanted to make the point that every time the word 'he' is used in that paragraph, it is referring to the spirit.

To be honest, the parable works the other way, too: If, as a Christian, you go through dry times, the life that you led before you got saved can start to look good to you, but if you go back to that life, you end up worse off than ever.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that in the previous paragraph I should have said that the parable almost works the other way: As a Christian, you will have dry times, and there will be times when it seems like you can't find rest, but if you persevere, God has rest for you: It's just that sometimes He wants you to know that you can endure more than you think you can.