Spiritual Discipline and the Long Dark Night of the Soul

On Sunday we started the wonderful book of Malachi which starts with the wonderful words "I have always loved you", yet God's people replied with the question "Really? How have you loved us?”

The long dark night of the soul refers to a time in someone's life where they are facing a massive existential crisis. They may be questioning God's love and care for them. They may be questioning who they are. And certainly - they will be feeling very sad and distant from God. Sometimes this will occur for weeks, months or even years.

The Dark Night of the Soul is a good thing! It's a good thing, because it strips away all our false gods, our false pretences, and shows us all the things we are relying on other than God.  The hope is that by the end of the "Long Dark Night of the Soul" - we will have grown in our love and understanding of God, and finding our joy in him.  But yes - it is a painful process.

I suggested on Sunday that one of the things we should invest in is the spiritual disciplines. 

What are the Spiritual Disciples? There's thousands of years of writing and talking about Spiritual Disciplines - so below is just short summary!

But before I jump in - I just want to be clear about why we do it.
Again - this is really important.  We don't do this in order to be loved by God, accepted by God, forgiven by God, or to please God.

We do these things so God can do his work in us. God loves you, has accepted you through his Son Jesus Christ, he has forgiven you, and is pleased by you.

God has given you his spirit, his people, and his word, and God is working in you to put to death your old, sinful self, and help you live the life he has given you through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

So here's a few things about spiritual disciple:

1. Recognise we are created beings
Did you ever think that eating, working and resting are spiritual?  They are!  God created us, and he created us to eat, sleep and work! 

This means, what we eat, our work, and our sleep are all spiritual acts.  What does this mean? Be disciplined!

  • Eat in a healthy manner

  • Work.  If you don't have a job, your job is to find a job. Note "Work" doesn't need to be paid work. Your work can be bringing up your children, or in a volunteer in a charity.

  • Sleep: Sleep well. Try for no less than 8 hours a night, and be disciplined in going to bed at a regular time, and getting up at a regular time.  Don't spend all night awake and sleep all day.

If we're not getting eating, work or sleep right - it's hard to get anything else right!

A quick word about exercise: In the past "work" was generally very physical.  This means you got your exercise by turning up to work.

Now - lots of our work isn't physical - do we don't get appropriate exercise! Combine that with being locked up at home - it's possible to do very little or no exercise at the moment!

So I want to encourage you to also be disciplined in doing exercise.  Make it as part of your "work" that you need to do every day.

2. The Sabbath Day

On the seventh day, God rested. Part of how God created us is to rest.  We are to sleep when the night comes, but the seventh day - the Sunday - was a special day of rest.

Of note is it wasn't a day to go to the beach or do sport, or spend it with family. 

It was a day to worship God, and reflect on his goodness to us.

What does this mean for spiritual Discipline? Sunday is about God - not you! And it's about God's people.

So make sure you prioritise church on Sunday, and that you spend time with God's people each week.

Sunday Church, Discipleship Groups, and meeting with God's people are all part of Spiritual Discipline.  It's the patterns of life that God has given us, and part of how God grows us.

3. Give each day to the Lord - and let him work on you
We often talk about "Quiet times" and "time with the Lord" and other things like that.  I think these are great - and I want to encourage them.   But I also want to say - to practise spiritual disciple, we need to expand them a little. 

Remember - we are not doing this for God (or to impress God) - but so God will do his work in us!

Each day, try to:

  • Pray

  • Read the Bible

  • Spend time reflecting on what you're feeling

  • Ask yourself what areas you need God to work in. Sin that you're not dealing with. Emotional immaturity. Issues that you've let slip. Things you are doing that you shouldn't. Things you aren't doing that you should be doing!

  • Reflect on God's work in the world, and your life.

The last point is particularly important. Often we do a quiet time in the morning, and that's our "God Time" - and the rest of the day is "My Time".  However - our whole day belongs to God! So getting into the practise of just pausing and recognising God's work that day is a good thing!  Perhaps this is something you can do every time you eat.


The last thing I want to say is this: This can all feel overwhelming! Don't jump in and try to do it all at once - but this week, just pick one thing to work on! Next week - pick another!


I hope and pray this has been helpful, and will help you grow as a follower of Jesus, which is part of why we exist as a church!

Family Bible Study
This weeks Family Bible Study is now available. It can be done with your family, with your household - or even just by yourself!  It doesn't matter how old or young you are!

Why not get the kids to do it during Sunday Church? And don't forget to send your craft pictures to kids@stjamesberala.org.au


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Mike Doyle
mike@stjamesberala.org.au
0412 857 162

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