Day 18 | Soul Restoration – Lauren
Our Shepherd wants to restore us from within by addressing the deepest part of us, our soul and innermost being, which only God can repair because, as our Creator, He alone knows what we truly need.
The word soul, or in Hebrew nephesh, has a wide range of meanings in the Old Testament.[1] As the word is used here in Psalm 23, it likely means the combination of mind, will and emotion that makes up an individual person—their whole being. It is this part of us, our soul, that is often wearied by the world and needs refreshment and restoration.
Fighting against life’s temptations, demands, hurried pace, and constant noise often leaves us feeling discouraged, burdened, drained and stressed. This leads to soul exhaustion, which is more than physical tiredness, it is a sense of feeling utterly spent, swamped, strained and stressed to our core.
Our Good Shepherd doesn’t want this for us! He longs to heal us from the inside out.
Our American culture often talks about “self-care” as if it were “soul care”. We are told to “take care of number one” in the form of therapy sessions, naps, meditation, exercise, setting boundaries at work and home, avoiding “toxic people” etc. While these things in and of themselves are not bad ideas (in fact, they can be quite helpful at times), they can leave us feeling empty when done without partnering with God.
It is only God who can truly refresh and restore our souls. Why? Because He is the one who created our souls in the first place!
The Bible tells us in the very beginning,
“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” – Genesis 2:7
This verse describes God taking physical material (dust) and combining it with divine life (His breath) to create a living human being—a nephesh or living soul.
David, acknowledges God as the Source of combining spiritual matter with physical matter, as he writes,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” – Psalm 139:13,
Similar to a Care and Repair Manual that comes with items that we purchase, God knows exactly what we need for our souls to function properly as well as how best to restore and refresh us when we’ve gone off track.
Soul care is guarding and nourishing the deepest parts of who we are through prayer, worship, gratitude, fellowship with other believers, meditating on Scripture, resting in His Presence, rejecting lies and remembering God’s promises.
Soul repair happens when we allow God to heal us through the acts of confession, repentance, acceptance of his mercy and grace as well as dependence on Him rather than ourselves.
These spiritual practices are instructions that God has given us long ago and the same ones the prophet Jeremiah tells us to look, ask and walk in so that we can experience the refreshment that we seek.
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6:16
Ultimately, it is God who is the source of our restoration. David writes in our focus verse for today,
“He [God] refreshes my soul” – Psalm 23:3a
And David reminds us in another Psalm,
“He [God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” – Psalm 147:3
Yet, we have a part to play in receiving the refreshment God offers. The prophet Isaiah alludes to this partnership when he states, “He [God] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak… those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.” – Isaiah 40:29-31
God imparts strength and power to our weary souls, but we only receive it when we hope and trust in Him to do it. Similarly, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29
REFLECT
1. Where am I seeking “self-care” at the expense of “soul care”?
2. How can I better do my part in the “soul repair” process (i.e. confession, repentance, receiving His mercy/grace)?
3. How can I better trust in and rely on God to do His part in refreshing my soul?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, you are the source of true refreshment for my soul. You knit me together in my mother’s womb and you breathed life into me. You are the one who created my soul—my innermost being and the combination of my mind, will and emotions—so you know best how to care for and repair it when needed. Help me to come to you, Jesus, when I am weary and weighed down by the world. Remind me and empower me, Holy Spirit, to follow the ancient paths you’ve laid out for me, paths of worship, trust, repentance, and gratitude that lead to true soul restoration.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Choose one of the spiritual disciplines that God has instructed us to follow as part of our soul care and repair routine (Sabbath, Solitude, Prayer, Fasting, Scripture, Community, Generosity, Service, Witness)2 and put it into practice.