The Monday After • Aug 25, 2025
Something New
Darren Carlson
I have decided to try something new and invite you to join. Each Monday, I will be sending out a short email with a reflection from Scripture, a story of what God is doing around the world, and a helpful resource. That's it! Something really simple to start your Monday.
A few weeks ago I read Psalm 42. Here is something I noticed for the first time after missing it for years. We often respond differently in our own lives when we face spiritual dryness. We instinctively assume we've done something wrong. Our natural inclination is to find a formula or spiritual discipline that we might leverage to restore intimacy with God. We ask ourselves—or others ask us—questions that subtly suggest we must have missed something essential: Have you prayed enough? Have you confessed all known sins? Have you meditated on Scripture sufficiently? Have you shown adequate gratitude?
Yet Psalm 42 challenges this assumption. The psalmist doesn't respond with a checklist of spiritual tasks. Instead, he honestly wrestles with God, expressing openly his deep anguish and longing. His approach suggests that spiritual dryness isn't always directly tied to personal sin or failure. Sometimes, it can simply be a season that God allows for deeper growth, deeper intimacy, or deeper reliance upon Him.
The absence of repentance in this Psalm is instructive. It invites us into a more nuanced understanding of spiritual dryness. Perhaps the psalmist isn't suffering because he's done something wrong, but because this experience of dryness itself is part of God's sovereign purpose in maturing his faith. It draws us toward the understanding that sometimes what God desires most is not our meticulous checklist-keeping, but our raw, honest, and persistent seeking of His presence, even when He feels distant.
Therefore, Psalm 42 encourages us to resist the simplistic notion that spiritual dryness must always be solved by merely pulling spiritual levers. It invites us instead to deeper trust, to steadfast hope, and to the genuine honesty of pouring out our souls before God, confident that our longing itself is a profound expression of faith.
A year ago, still bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, I wandered down to the hotel breakfast as the Lausanne Congress opened in Seoul, Korea. I spotted an open chair in a crowded room and introduced myself to the man sitting there.
That's how I met Vladimir. He's from Uzbekistan, and when he was just 13, he answered a newspaper ad for an American pen pal. On the other end was an 11-year-old girl from Kentucky.
For years, they wrote letters back and forth. She faithfully shared the gospel with him, and when Vladimir turned 17, she sent him a Bible. Not long after, he came to faith in Christ.
A year later, Vladimir met a missionary named Tom, who discipled him and baptized him.
And here's the remarkable twist: the church that sent Tom as a missionary was Evangelical Free Church in Bozeman, Montana—the very church where I now serve as lead pastor. In fact, just a few months before that breakfast in Seoul, I had met Tom myself, sitting on the porch of my neighbor.
Think about how many small details had to align for that encounter to happen. Vladimir and I both had to be at that hotel. His wife had to skip breakfast that morning, leaving an open seat. Every other chair at the table had to be filled. Months earlier, my schedule had to allow me to meet Tom and hear his story. On and on the list goes.
These aren't coincidences. They are reminders of a sovereign God who orders our steps. He is weaving together countless threads—across years, countries, and lives—for His glory and for the encouragement of His people. What looks to us like chance is, in reality, providence.
Having some tunnel vision regarding God's supernatural work in the world? Pick up Craig Keener's book on Miracles. This compelling, accessible volume not only uplifts—it also challenges and may even gently rebuke your perspective as it explores modern-day miracles with thoughtful evidence and heartfelt clarity.
Thanks for checking in.
Sign up here to receive Darren Carlson's The Monday After email. This weekly newsletter is designed to encourage your faith and share inspiring stories of what God is doing around the world. Each edition features a short devotional, a story that will give you a glimpse of His work in unexpected places, and a resource you might find helpful.
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