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Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV

True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction.
The Message

Day 1

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures ,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23

He restores my soul. Wow! Can you imagine what it would be like to be completely restored? Maybe you’re too young to appreciate the value of restoration! But since I’m getting older by the day, I’ve come to appreciate the value of much needed restoration.

We’re restoring our kitchen. It may be superficial, but anyone who has tried to restore a kitchen knows – it’s never simple! Our house is approaching the big 40 birthday, and the time has come for some nips and tucks. Our ovens are original to the house – they’re out of here! The counter tops and the cabinet doors are being retired as well. New lighting appears to be in our future too. Since the bones of the kitchen are fine and other restorative measures have been taken previously on the floors, walls, etc. this is more of an update than a redo.

What about you? Could your soul use a few nips and tucks, or do you need major renovation? Have you been taking pretty good care of your core structure, but realize that some tweaking is in order? Whatever state of disrepair to the soul, I’ve got good news for you!

God is in the restoration business! Take a few moments to dream big. What is it about you that needs restoring? Make a list. Then read through your list to God, asking him to show you the next right step in His plan for your soul renovation. Having done this, begin practicing the fine art of believing – and be alert to God’s cleansing presence, the new heart and new spirit within you. Notice how your heart is increasingly God-willed. Thank God for how He is making it possible for you to do His good, pleasing and perfect will.

I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God! I’ll pull you out of that stinking pollution. Ezekiel 36:25-28 The Message

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 2

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures ,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23

One of the things that I particularly appreciate about my current home improvement project – the kitchen renovation – is the fact that I don’t have to do it all by myself! Different people with unique skill sets are painting, tearing out, and replacing various “old things” with wonderful, hand-picked “new things.” Some parts of the project only my husband and I could do. We had to decide on the particulars of the project, select the materials, the colors, and the right people to do the work. Along the way, we sought advice. We got second and third opinions. Ultimately, we had to decide what we were going to do with our kitchen. That was our part.

Soul restoration is a lot like my kitchen project. Some parts of it we do ourselves, but most of it is done by someone else – God himself! The greatest thing about soul work is that I truly believe that the hardest part of the job is done by someone else – God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Our part is to acknowledge the need for restoration, and choose to accept God’s help. For the longest time we denied that we needed to do any more work on our kitchen. We put it off. But once we made the decision to turn our kitchen over into the hands of a kitchen restorer, it was a great relief. When I took off my blinders, I saw that my kitchen really, really needed a good bit of work. Frankly, it was a relief to get to the point of acknowledging the truth.

During your prayer time today, do your part – be brutally honest with yourself about your need for renovation. Perhaps you will find that you need to add to the list that you began yesterday. Sit quietly and wait for the relief that only honesty can bring. Your heavenly Father is more than capable of replacing “old things” with glorious “new things.”

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping,

eating, going –to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out... Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 3

The Hebrew word for restoration ("shuwb") is rich with meaning. 391 times in scripture it is translated as “return,” 248 times it is written as “return again,” 123 times “turn,” and “turn back” or “turn away” for a combined 121 times. The next most common translation of this word is found in Psalm 23 – 39 times it is “restore.”

The Lord is my shepherd, He returns my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd. He returns again my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd, He turns my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd, He turns back my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd, He turns away my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd, He restores my soul.

Did you know that you were created to find your way back to God? Long before your parents laid eyes on each other God had you in mind. Our brains don’t have the circuitry to understand the fact that we were known by God before the measuring of time.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Ephesians 1:11-12 The Message

Recently I was teaching a class, and afterwards a participant came up and rebuked me. “You should not talk about your struggles like that. You’re a Pastor; you’re not supposed to have problems like that.” Well, news flash. I do . I lose sight of the truth that long before I heard of Christ He had His eye on me! Long before I knew I was lost, He was eagerly anticipating my return – finding my way back to Him. Even as a desperately devoted follower of Him, I still need to – return, return again, turn, turn back, turn away, and accept His restorative healing powers. Take some time now to pray for yourself, and those you love – that all of us would find our way back to God, and accept the restoration of our souls – the gift Christ so longs to deliver.

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 4

I can’t remember exactly how long it has been, but one summer I wore myself out. Being the spiritual people that we are – we ran away to the beach! (Don’t forget – God leads us beside quiet waters!) Honestly, I can’t say that our spirituality had much to do with that decision. I just know that when I’m worn out, I find the beach a wonderful place to be restored. (I love how Psalm 23 puts no restrictions on where God is going to restore us – He can do it anywhere. Why not the beach?) As we were driving down the highway, I could feel the muscles in my body begin to unwind. My aching back began to relax against the seat; my stomach began to untie itself from the perpetual knot it had been in for weeks; even my toes and fingers began to unwind and gently relax.

Take some time to allow your body the opportunity to be still and relax. Give yourself permission to believe the truth of who God is – He’s in control; you do not have to be. He has plans and purposes for you that are more wonderful than you can imagine. Imagine what it would feel like to live in a body that houses a soul that is completely restored.

It would mean that you know who you are. It would mean that you have God-confidence even if your self-confidence ebbs away. It would mean that you know that you know that you know that the plans of God cannot be thwarted, and that you are completely abandoned to the plans of God. It does not necessarily mean that you know where you’re headed. It does not mean that you will have no obstacles, hardships, trials and tribulations – in fact, you will have all those things. It doesn’t mean that you’re free to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it. But it does mean this: when we relinquish control to God, He gives us a promise. If we will be responsible to Him, he will take responsibility for the outcome. Sometimes the outcome will be baffling. But a restored soul knows that what we have in the seen world is not our ultimate reality. I hope you will spend some time today quietly listening to the soft voice of God whispering from the unseen world into your seen world life.

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 5

While undertaking our awesome kitchen restoration process we had a lot of choices to make. Laminate, granite, solid surface, or a host of other choices in counter tops? Decisions, decisions, decisions. The only part of the project that I really, really cared about was making room for eating at the counter. I want some really cool bar stools to go in front of that new eating spot too. I suspect that my husband is getting a little tired of hearing my requests.

Last night our awesome counter top fixer-upper guy came by for final measurements. Our fourteen year old son turned to his father and said, “Dad, are you going to supervise this project so that mom doesn’t go hog wild?”

I promptly replied, “Your dad wants me to have the kind of kitchen I want.”

My husband added in hushed tones, “…within reason.”

Have you ever had a conversation like this with God? It’s one of those days when you have a lot of requests, and some of them are near and dear to your heart. They are so dear, in fact, that you can’t imagine God NOT wanting to answer themall with a resounding, “YES!”

So ask, and ask boldly. Nothing wrong with that – it’s scriptural! But after the asking, one must be willing to wait for God’s response; not jumping in like I did with a quick assurance that, of course, God wants to meet all our needs!

God does want to meet our needs, but He knows the best way to accomplish the restoration of soul process. I’m all excited about bar stools and new counter tops, but God’s vision is far larger than mine. He may have far better things planned for me than barstools and counter-top eating!

He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15 KJV

My prayer for each of us today is that we put no limits on who, what, when, where, or how God might choose to restore our souls. I pray that we will not be so demanding in our request that God gives us that request, but allows a leanness to enter into our soul. I pray that today we will leave our time with God not only restored, but ready – ready to be who God created us to be today.

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 6

Take a deep breath, God; calm down— don’t be so hasty with your punishing rod. Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood; my backside smarts from your caning. I’ve lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I’m swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt. The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots because I’ve lived so badly. And now I’m flat on my face feeling sorry for myself morning to night. All my insides are on fire, my body is a wreck. I’m on my last legs; I’ve had it— my life is a vomit of groans. Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you. My heart’s about to break; I’m a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good; old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back. My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin. But I’m deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don’t hear a word they say, don’t speak a word in response. What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—youwill answer! I wait and pray so they won’t laugh me off, won’t smugly strut off when I stumble. I’m on the edge of losing it—the pain in my gut keeps burning. I’m ready to tell my story of failure, I’m no longer smug in my sin. My enemies are alive and in action, a lynch mob after my neck. I give out good and get back evil from God-haters who can’t stand a God-lover. Don’t dump me, God; my God, don’t stand me up. Hurry and help me; I want some wide-open space in my life! Psalm 38, The Message

David wrote this Psalm, and he knew some things about loving God, and losing his way, too. Notice how in this Psalm David draws a direct connection between his soul-sickness and the sickness of his body. What David is longing for is “some wide open space” in his life. Can you relate? Spend some time today asking God if any of your physical ailments, your relationship problems, etc. are more related to soul-sickness than you might have previously thought? Remember – The Lord is my shepherd – I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters – he restores my soul. Beautiful, isn’t it? May you find some wide-open space in your life today, delivered by the hands of the good shepherd.

Week 5

He restores my soul. NIV
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and
send me in the right direction. The Message

Day 7

I’ve often wondered why the same David who had the courage to trust in God to help him slay Goliath with only the implements of a shepherd boy ended up in a tawdry sexual encounter with Bathsheba. Have you ever done anything that was truly shocking and out of character? Afterwards, did you wonder why? Were you devastated and filled with sorrow? I wonder if there is any sorrow in your life that is holding you back from experiencing the restoring of your soul.

I was sitting in a support group meeting and one of our fellow participants had eyes that were pools of sorrow. We were going over some material and he had been silent for the entire session. Suddenly, he had what can only be described as a God moment.

“I get it! All my life I’ve asked myself – why do you keep doing such stupid things? Now I understand why.” I hope his new understanding will support his heart’s desire – to stop doing such stupid things!

For God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation.

We will never regret that kind of sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:10 The New Living Translation

Will you take some time now to reflect on that question, asking God to reveal to you a new and better way to understand your sorrow?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

You are a new creation. As a believer, you have the capacity to accept God’s help, and stop doing those stupid things that you truly never wanted to do in the first place! But you must be willing to turn away, turn back, be restored…