Have you ever been to a ghost town? 

Okay… me neither. But I have seen a couple depicted in movies and tv shows. And they’re pretty creepy. For me, when I think about ghost towns I always wonder, “how the heck did it get here?” How does a town go from flourishing, full of people, and alive to just… deserted? 

Look at this definition of a ghost town, ““a once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource.” 

Woah. 

The cause of a town going from thriving to deserted is the exhaustion of a resource? Something ran out or stopped being produced and this led to entire families and groups of people relocating, tearing up their roots, and moving on to something completely different? 

What if… spiritually speaking… a lot of us resemble ghost towns more than we might realize? If that doesn’t hit home for you personally right now, I would still make the claim that our world is a ghost town spiritually speaking. But let’s focus on our own hearts for just a moment. 

Do you relate to the feeling of a spiritual ghost town? At one point you felt like you were flourishing. Thriving. On top of the world. You felt like you were on fire for God. Every time you opened God’s Word you were learning something amazing. Every time you sang a worship song you had goosebumps. Every time you came to The Well you were learning some big takeaway. You had awesome Christ following friends in your corner all the time. Absolutely flourishing! 

But at some point… things changed. Just like this definition. A once flourishing town is now completely or nearly deserted. You feel that tonight? I used to be there and it was so good!! But now… now I don’t know… now I don’t feel God. Now I’m wondering if any of that was real in the first place. I feel empty. I feel deserted. I feel deflated. And according to this definition… this happens as a result of a natural resource being exhausted. Something that we had at one point that made us feel full and complete has been exhausted and has run out. What is this source? What is this thing that we need refilling from? What resource are we lacking? 

 I believe there is hope if you’re feeling that way right now. 

I don’t believe that we have to feel like Ghost Towns. I don’t believe that God has called us to the life of feeling like a Ghost Town. I believe there’s so much more.

But let’s start with this question for reflection. Why do you feel empty? 

Not helpful? Okay let me add some more color to it. 

What was different about your life when you felt full? Have you ever felt like a Kingdom of God? Have you ever been on fire for Him? What needs to change? What is bothering you or weighing you down right now? Wrestle with these things. It’s okay to feel deeply. Bring it to God. Be honest and open and transparent with Him. Nothing will ever change until we are willing to be honest and open with God and with ourselves. You cannot change what you refuse to acknowledge! 

Let me leave you with some hope. There is a lot more I could write about on this topic, but I’m hoping that this serves as something to get you thinking a little bit different about the state of your spiritual life right now. But the hope is that a lot of the writers in the Bible struggled with this very fight in their faith and if they could wrestle with feeling light spiritual ghosty towns, bring it before God in prayer, and find hope, so can you and me. 

The Psalms are full of authors expressing how they feel lonely, broken, and empty and wondering where God is in it all. So if you’re feeling like a ghost town right now, be encouraged by the fact that you aren’t the only one! This is a normal struggle and obstacle of faith. Look at what the writer has to say in Psalm 42: 

“Why am I discouraged?

    
Why is my heart so sad?


I will put my hope in God!

    
I will praise him again—

    
my Savior and my God!”

Psalm 42:11

Notice the switch. The author acknowledges their ghost town feelings, but refuses to stay there. They choose to focus on the hope that following God brings and they decide to make that the most important thing about them. It’s beautiful! 

If you’re feeling like a ghost town right now, your feelings are valid. The Biblical authors felt that way at times too! But… choosing to live and stay in a ghost town is a choice. It is up to you to bring it to God, wrestle with it, and choose the hope that comes from a life of following Jesus. Do not stay in the deserted place any longer!