Soul Refresh

Ps.23:¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; ³ he restores my soul… (NRSV, with emphasis)

If the Lord is your shepherd and if you will be His sheep, He will take care of everything; your spiritual needs, your directional needs, your emotional needs, your physical needs and your eternal needs. Ps.23:³ “he restores my soul… (NRSV, with emphasis). The word soul in this scripture literarily means life; my life, my essence, the ‘me’ that is within, my inner man, my spirit man. God restores my spirit man, He restores my soul, and He restores my life. If God is your shepherded, He will meet your spiritual needs and interestingly, we have such intense spiritual needs. Our souls are sometimes famished and disquieted within us. We cannot place a finger on it, but we are just not satisfied. Henceforth, you will see God as your shepherd that meets the needs of your soul.

Our souls are in trouble and in intense need for three main reasons. The first is because of our own sins, our own transgression. Our sins draw us away from our shepherd. We very often want to do our own things in our own way. Yet the Bible says, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What will a man give in exchange of his soul? What can you give in exchange for your soul? Your soul is priceless. Unfortunately, we trade our souls daily when we let things slide, when we compromise. Before you know it, the soul is totally fragmented.

The second reason our souls are in desperate need is because of the world we live in. The world around us drains us. There is so much pressure in the world. The world is broken, and its systems are broken. There is no perfect system of governance; some people are clamoring for democracy, some for chumocracy, some for the monarch, and some want a combination of everything. You cannot expect things to work, even in the developed countries because the world is broken. All of this pressure on our lives drains us. What does the car I use need to do for the fuel to finish? Even without a leaking tank, the fuel in the car will finish by reason of use. That is how life is, but the shepherd of your soul will restore your soul, in Jesus Name.

The third reason is the enemy of our souls. The enemy’s antics and attacks drain us. Even when you are strong, and you are able to fight back, push back the enemy and get victory repeatedly. After a while, you get tired. However, those that have stopped fighting are on the other side of eternity, so you cannot afford to get tired. What you need is for your soul to be restored and you would be ready for the next fight. All you need is to refuel, and you would be ready for the journey.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I ask that You restore my soul; restore every weariness in me, strengthen my tired hands, renew my zest in God, in Jesus Name. Amen!