God My ShepherdSample

He Restores My Soul

We will likely need every verse in Psalm 23 at some point in our lives, however, I have never felt more in need of these four words daily: ‘He restores my soul.’

It is simply reality that our souls desperately need restoring and refreshing from our Good Shepherd. Our souls can easily become tarnished by sin, as worldly and fleshly things vie for our affections and seek to turn us from our first love Jesus. Our souls can also become weary and disheartened from ongoing conflict, suffering and hardships, and the daily demands and stressors of life.

Dear friend, I don’t know if you are facing any of these challenges right now, but I do know that we all need a Shepherd who restores our souls.

#1. God Restores Us When We Wander Off

Although our Shepherd leads us, we are sometimes like the sheep who go astray, who think we know where we’re going, and who wander off on our own paths.

David knew this full well of himself. In 2 Samuel 11-12 we read of how David murdered Uriah so that he could have Uriah’s wife Bathsheba for himself. David chose to go his own way and to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He was in dire need of restoration.

In 2 Samuel 12:13, after being rebuked by the prophet Nathan, David turns back to the Lord and confesses, ‘“I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’Through Nathan’s word, God brought David’s sinful soul back to Himself and restored him.

In Hebrew, one meaning of the words ‘restores my soul’ is ‘to bring me to repentance’. Friend, this is what our Lord Jesus does for us as our Shepherd: He comes to find us, lost as we are, and He brings us back to repentance, back to Himself, and back into right relationship with Him.

#2. God Restores Us When We Are Weary

Sometimes our souls need restoration because of our own sin and folly, but sometimes we need God to restore us because of the things that we endure externally and internally.

We can become weary because of continued disappointments, because of injustice, because of relational conflicts, because of sickness and suffering, and because of the pressures and demands in our workplaces or schools.

Our world isn’t perfect, and we can become disheartened because of it. But we have an incredible Shepherd who attends to our weariness by refreshing us with His presence and giving us rest.

In challenging times like these, let us seek God’s presence afresh, for ‘in [His] presence there is fullness of joy’ (Psalm 16:11).

Reflection:

In what sense do you feel you need your Shepherd to restore you today?

Prayer:

My Good Shepherd,

Thank You for the promise that You restore my soul. You retrieve me when I wander off from You and Your path, and You restore me back into right relationship with You. Lord, I bring before You any sins of commission or of omission and I repent. Thank You for Your forgiveness.

Lord, I also confess that my soul is weary and disheartened from the stresses of this life. I ask for a fresh encounter with You today, that Your Presence may refresh me and that I may experience fullness of joy once again.

I love You, Lord, and I am so grateful for You.

In Jesus’ name, amen.