When you’re spiritually dry, revisit the psalms

When you’re spiritually dry, revisit the psalms

The Up Devotional for June 10, 2026

“I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil” (Psalm 119:162).

I sometimes get asked for ideas about what to do when your devotional life feels flat. It happens. There are times when you just feel spiritually dry. During those valleys it can be hard to find the motivation to spend time each day with the Lord.

Different things work for different people. We have different personality types, strengths, and life experiences. However, more often than not, a remedy can be found in the psalms.

The psalms are sometimes referred to as the prayerbook for the people of God. Why? Because many of them are prayers that God’s people have used for generations upon generations. They are ancient, but always new. Jesus himself would have spoken and sung the psalms. Augustine had this in mind when he wrote: “Let us therefore listen to the Psalm and recognize in it the voice of Christ.”*

Let me continue to impress upon you the value of the psalms with this word from Henri Nouwen: “Many times I have thought: If I am ever sent to prison, if I am ever subjected to hunger, pain, torture, or humiliation, I hope and pray that they let me keep the psalms. The psalms will keep my spirit alive… Maybe I should start learning the psalms by heart so that nobody can take them away from me.”**

I wholeheartedly agree. No matter what you’re going through, and no matter where you are, when you have the psalms in your heart you are never without the Spirit of Christ.

If your devotional life feels flat, read a few verses at a time, and pray based on what you read. Then try a few more verses, and pray again. Ask God to help you, and be ready for new life.

“Let us therefore listen to the Psalm and recognize in it the voice of Christ.”

Notes:

-*As quoted from the introduction to The Abbey Psalter—The Book of Psalms Used By The Trappist Monks of Genesee Abbey.
-**Quoted in: Ester De Waal, The Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1998), 53.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.