The Word of God Refreshes the Soul

Author: Faith Woodall

Psalm 63:1-5—O God, You are my God; Early I will seek You; My soul thirsts for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”

“My soul thirsts for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”

This beautiful passage of Scripture reminds us that God is worthy of our praise. However, I can’t help but notice the not-so-good-looking truth that lies in the middle: “my soul thirsts for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” This reassures me that there will come seasons in our life when we encounter this dry and thirsty land. It’s bound to happen in this dry and thirsty world. The demand that everyday life brings, the busyness that comes each week, and the attempt to keep up the stride month after month will leave our souls dry and thirsty.

Just as I physically need to stop for a good, refreshing half-and-half tea after an afternoon of running errands, our souls need the same kind of refreshing, and thankfully, we have those refreshing words, inspired by God, in the Bible. When we dive into Scripture, it is like taking a large drink of living water, which we need to quench our dry thirst. This living water will also give us the energy we need to go on and keep seeking after Him.

“So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.”

Or sometimes, we don’t need a drink; we need a reminder. It never failed that in school, we would spend the first few days of the year reviewing lessons we learned the previous year. The teachers would call them “refreshers.” They wanted to refresh our brains by reminding us of what we already knew but may have forgotten after weeks of summer break.

I see a similar instance in this verse David wrote in Psalm, “so I have looked for You in the Sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” David knew of God’s Power and Glory, yet he needed to look for it to refresh and remind himself during his dry and thirsty moment. The Word of God can refresh our minds of what we already know to be true about God but may have forgotten. After reminding ourselves of who He is, what He has done, of His Power and Glory, our souls will find the refreshing we are in need of to Praise Him.

“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless you while I live, I will lift up my hands in Your name.”

Then, other times, we don’t need a drink or a reminder but a complete restart. About a year ago, we moved out to the woods and had the most challenging time finding reliable Wi-Fi. It never fails that almost every day, we will have to restart our Wi-Fi because it either starts moving really slowly or just up and drops the connection suddenly. As annoying as it can become, I can’t help but be reminded of how I, too, can start to move slowly. My body and soul can begin to drag, and my mood can be equally as frustrating as our Wi-Fi issue if I am not careful.

During these moments, I need to push my own restart button to refresh my soul and my thinking. Releasing praise from my mouth begins to restart my attitude. Worship and lifting up my hands will restart my hope and refocus it on the Lord, and the Word of God, full of truth, will restart and refresh us when we are dragging or ready to quit.

“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”

Or what about the refreshment that doesn’t truly satisfy us? I don’t know about you, but a room-temperature soda on a hot day will not satisfy my thirst. I will begin searching for something else, and can’t that also hit home with us and our souls? Every person in the world is searching for the people, the place, or the things that will meet our needs and wants, the things that will truly satisfy the desire of our hearts. That dissatisfaction will almost always leave us searching for more.

Thankfully, we have the Word of God to refresh our souls to the point of being satisfied, as David says in this verse. Marrow and fatness stand for rich foods, which would imply being satisfied even beyond one’s needs. In the Word of God, we find the kind of refreshment that will satisfy our souls, but we must go back and apply the first part of this verse - “God, you are my God; Early I will seek You.” We must seek Him. We seek Him because we are in need of the only kind of refreshment that truly satisfies us.

Reflection

1. In what area are you in need of refreshment today?

2. How are you in need of refreshment today?

3. How are you seeking Him today?