Restoring My Soul
Psalm 23 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.
What does that even mean? He restores my soul? It literally means, He causes my life to return. When God created Adam and Eve, He breathed into them the breath of God, and at that point, they became a living soul.
Sin mars our soul. Sin stains the image of God in us. Sin suffocates the breath of God. Sin taints the way we view ourselves. Sin muddies our purpose.
God, in His mercy sent Jesus to redeem our souls, to restore them to their original condition as they were designed in the heart of God. Think of the restoration of our souls like the restoration of a computer. When a computer is restored to the factory settings, it is taken back to the intended manufacturer’s condition, the condition the developer created it to possess. When a virus takes over your computer system, sometimes it is necessary to wipe everything clean and take it back to that original state.
Something similar happens when God restores our souls. He resets them to that intended, original design where we are pure in heart, where we can be free to enjoy the presence of God, where we can understand our value and worth and where we can walk in and enjoy the purposes for which God created us.
It is more than a one-time factory resetting, but it is a regular, ongoing and necessary experience that we need with the Shepherd—for this restoring of our souls. In fact, I would submit to you that the restoration of our soul can become a daily experience for us as we center ourselves in Christ or receive an alignment from Him each day.
How does God restore us?
1. He restores me with His Word.
Our souls have to be fed. Our souls house the real us, and who we are really are is more than skin and bones. It is more than personality and thoughts. There is another level beyond the intellect and emotion. The soul, the core of our being, needs nourished just like our physical and emotional and intellectual beings do.
Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
If you are wandering through life and are wondering why you are here or what difference your life makes, if you are seeking answers to those questions from anywhere outside of God’s Word, you are going to come up short. Quit googling, “What is my life’s purpose?” or “Why am I here?” You will be left confused. You will easily be discouraged. The Word of God alone has the answers you need. You see, it is in your soul where you gain identity and purpose. It is in your soul where you will be convicted to follow a certain path. It is through our knowledge of the Word of God that our souls are in a right connection with our true selves and with God’s plans. Wisdom and inner strength also comes to our souls through the Word of God.
He restores me through confession and forgiveness of sin.
Confession and forgiveness, however, are the mechanisms through which God breathes new life into our souls. The writer of the 23rd Psalm, King David, knew how crushing and crippling sin was to his soul. David described the feelings of unforgiven sin like the crushing of his bones. David got in way over his head. His soul was submerged in sin. He had an affair with a married woman, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed to cover up what he had done. Sinning is one phase of the crippling of our souls, but when we follow with a plan to cover it up, our souls go from crippled to crushed. David said in Psalm 32:4 that his strength was sapped as in the heat of summer because of his sin. He couldn’t move. He lost his joy. He lost his ambition. He lost his effectiveness. His soul suffered. Sin causes a sickness or suffering of the soul.
David wasn’t convinced he could keep going. It was only when he confessed his sin to God that his soul started to live again. Your willingness to confess your sin releases God’s power to forgive. I John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And when we do, we will be spiritually resuscitated in our souls.
He restores me through His abiding presence.
David was keenly aware of the presence of God. Just as a shepherd speaks to the sheep, God would speak to David. There would be instruction to lay down and rest or an invitation to stop and eat or get refreshed with something to drink. The very practical rod and staff of the shepherd were there to nudge the sheep on or to pull him closer back to the right path. There were actions the shepherd took that comforted the sheep. There was oil to soothe the sheep’s hurts. The shepherd and the sheep were in daily contact. All of these are reminders of the abiding presence of God our Father.
Engaging with God’s presence was life-giving and life-changing for David on a soul level. Look at this verse, penned by the same David who wrote the 23rd Psalm: You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11
God wants to restore your soul today. Perhaps He needs to take it back to the factory setting, to its original design before sin entered the picture. Perhaps He needs to take it back to a certain date in your history when you were truly walking with him. You remember how you felt at church camp when you were all fired up about your relationship with God? Maybe it was your baptism when your love for God was at its peak. Maybe you’ve lost that loving feeling. Perhaps you need to get inside of His Word and allow it to revive your soul. Perhaps you need to release Him to restore your soul by confessing your sin. Maybe you need to quit running from His presence and allow Him to fill your life to overflowing today. What are you waiting for?
