HE RESTORES MY SOUL

David wrote, "The Lord leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul."

~Psalm 23:2-3~

Many times, King David, the writer of Psalm 23, needed to have his soul restored to have life put back into him. When Saul was chasing David and threatening to kill him, God restore David's courage and confidence. During those days of grief after David lost his son Absolom in death, God restored his soul. When David sinned with Bathsheba and felt the heavy hand of God on him as a result, God restored his soul and also restored relationship with him. In this Psalm, that relationship is depicted as a Shepherd with his sheep. When a sheep has lots of wool and it falls over onto its side, it is very difficult for it to get up again. After a few hours, the sheeps stomach will expand with gases and eventually compress its lungs. If the shepherd doesn't intervene to restore the Sheep to an upright position and then massage its legs to restore circulation the sheep will soon die. In a similar way, when sins or trials put as flat on our backs, overwhelming us with grief and despair, it takes a shepherd to restore our souls. As we pray, read and meditate on scripture, and fellowship with other believers, our Shepherd reassurance us with His grace and mercy and gives us back our strength, joy, and courage. When our trials drain us of hope and strength, the Great Shepherd can restore our souls to life.

Dear Lord, our Shepherd, thank you for hearing our cries of helplessness and for restoring us to life and relationship with you. Amen