Words of Hope: Desolation and the Hidden Realm
As my husband Shann and I read and pray through Hebrews every night, we are struck by the admonition to look to the invisible realm where Christ reigns, the hidden world beyond the material world.
This reminds me of the focus of Ignatius of Loyola. Dad studied the teachings of Ignatius and his call to look past the concrete and into the work of the spirit. He believed in the importance of cultivating godly discernment and as Hebrews says to discern between the spirits of good or evil.
Ignatius taught us to listen closely to our emotions and the unseen. He explains a feeling of desolation or distance from God in this way, “I call desolation darkness of the soul, turmoil of spirit, inclination to what is low and earthly, restlessness rising from many disturbances and temptations which lead to want of faith, want of hope, want of love. The soul is wholly slothful, tepid, sad, and separated, as it were, from its Creator and Lord.”
Desolation or feelings of despair can reveal to us we are not on the right path. God can be using our feelings to warn us we are moving the wrong way. When we feel distant from God this can be a good indication to pause, to reconnect to Jesus, to turn around and come boldly to the throne of grace.
God longs to reconnect with us, to bring us back to connection with His spirit in which there is joy even in hardship, and where there is always hope.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God. – Psalm 42:11
