"He Restoreth My Soul"
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want...He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalm 23:1,3 (KJV)
Who does not love Psalm 23? It is about life, death, God's care and eternal life. Open almost any hymnal, and you will find one if not two or three settings of this song written by King David, the shepherd, musician and "sweet psalmist of Israel". It is frequently sung in churches and quoted at funerals.
David knew a thing or two about sheep, as he spent the greater part of his youth in the pastures tending to his father's flock. He understood the nature of sheep, he compared us to them, and each line of this psalm teaches us a different aspect of the Good Shepherd, Jesus', care for us.
While thinking about this psalm not long ago, the line He restoreth my soul jumped out at me. It's a little phrase, and I had never given it much thought. John Rutter in his lovely setting of this Psalm says He doth convert my soul. The Hebrew word is shuwb translated into English as "return", "restore", "again", "to turn back", "convert" etc. The idea here is God brings us back, but He does not just bring us back, He restores us to what we should be, better than what we were before.
While working in the Lake District in England on house staff at a retreat center, I was given the job of milking the neighbor's goat while he was away on vacation for a month or so. Every day, I went to the barn and milked the goat, and every day while I was milking the goat, my eyes were drawn to an old coffee table in the corner of the barn. It was completely covered with various colors of dried paint. It was a sturdy table and had a nice shape, but it was a mess. Someone, or several someones, had repeatedly used it for a paint stand, and the dried paint splashes were so thick, the table top had a rough texture to it. Nevertheless, the table looked like something I could use in my room. It appeared to have been abandoned, so I finally plucked up the courage and asked the grounds keeper if I could have it. He was more than happy to get it out the barn. I was thrilled.
On my next trip to town, I purchased a can of paint thinner and went to work. As I removed layer after layer of the old paint, a beautiful, light oak wood began to appear. Once the paint was removed, I realized someone had not just used the table as a paint stand, but they had used it for a wood stain stand. I sanded and sanded trying to remove the deep, dark stains on the table top until I realized that any more sanding would destroy the surface. Though I wanted the lighter color of wood, I was going to have to stain the wood darker than the stains. I chose a dark mahogany. The result was far more beautiful than I expected, and other than its structure, it looked nothing like the original. The stains were still there, but you could no longer see them.
Our souls desperately need to be converted and restored, and the Scriptures promise one day "...we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2). Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 3-4 that we are being transformed and made more like Him. "But we all, with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." This work that our Good Shepherd does for us is our sanctification, "our being made holy" process. When I become discouraged, because life is not going as I planned, I am reminded that these trials are part of the sanding and scouring, the restoration process, and in the end it will make us more like Him. May He be praised! "He restoreth my soul."
David knew a thing or two about sheep, as he spent the greater part of his youth in the pastures tending to his father's flock. He understood the nature of sheep, he compared us to them, and each line of this psalm teaches us a different aspect of the Good Shepherd, Jesus', care for us.
While thinking about this psalm not long ago, the line He restoreth my soul jumped out at me. It's a little phrase, and I had never given it much thought. John Rutter in his lovely setting of this Psalm says He doth convert my soul. The Hebrew word is shuwb translated into English as "return", "restore", "again", "to turn back", "convert" etc. The idea here is God brings us back, but He does not just bring us back, He restores us to what we should be, better than what we were before.
While working in the Lake District in England on house staff at a retreat center, I was given the job of milking the neighbor's goat while he was away on vacation for a month or so. Every day, I went to the barn and milked the goat, and every day while I was milking the goat, my eyes were drawn to an old coffee table in the corner of the barn. It was completely covered with various colors of dried paint. It was a sturdy table and had a nice shape, but it was a mess. Someone, or several someones, had repeatedly used it for a paint stand, and the dried paint splashes were so thick, the table top had a rough texture to it. Nevertheless, the table looked like something I could use in my room. It appeared to have been abandoned, so I finally plucked up the courage and asked the grounds keeper if I could have it. He was more than happy to get it out the barn. I was thrilled.
On my next trip to town, I purchased a can of paint thinner and went to work. As I removed layer after layer of the old paint, a beautiful, light oak wood began to appear. Once the paint was removed, I realized someone had not just used the table as a paint stand, but they had used it for a wood stain stand. I sanded and sanded trying to remove the deep, dark stains on the table top until I realized that any more sanding would destroy the surface. Though I wanted the lighter color of wood, I was going to have to stain the wood darker than the stains. I chose a dark mahogany. The result was far more beautiful than I expected, and other than its structure, it looked nothing like the original. The stains were still there, but you could no longer see them.
Our souls desperately need to be converted and restored, and the Scriptures promise one day "...we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2). Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 3-4 that we are being transformed and made more like Him. "But we all, with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." This work that our Good Shepherd does for us is our sanctification, "our being made holy" process. When I become discouraged, because life is not going as I planned, I am reminded that these trials are part of the sanding and scouring, the restoration process, and in the end it will make us more like Him. May He be praised! "He restoreth my soul."
~Joy
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