Tag Archives: soul

FOUNDATION STONES – 13

Christian Life, ,

RETURN TO THE PATH

Psalm 23:3 KJV
[3] “He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Today, I’m using the King James Version of this wonderful foundation stone to try to capture its real meaning. The Hebrew word “shub” has the root meaning of “return”, often translated “repent” or “restore”. This word is used in many contexts in Scripture. However, in David’s psalm, he celebrates the Good Shepherd’s work in his inner being, constantly bringing him back from the treacherous wilderness of sin to thinking, choosing, and doing life God’s way.

The meaning of repent, in Hebrew thought, is to return to the path. The children of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness helps us to understand this journey through life. We are all born into an unknown way. The path ahead is marked by signposts that help us to keep on track. When we wander from the path, we are lost and in danger of dying without God’s protection and provision of food and water. To repent means to return to the way of life God has shown us in His Word.

The signposts that show us the way are God’s instructions that teach us how to live. He has given us His Word and His Spirit to guide us through every dark valley and over every obstacle until we reach our heavenly destination.

Sin, essentially unbelief that results in disobedience, is a dangerous wilderness full of poisonous creatures that are intent on devouring us. Unless we stay on the path, we will perish in our unbelief, our choice to disregard God’s instructions and go our own way.

When we wander away from the path, when we trespass into dangerous places, the Shepherd will rescue us and to lead us back to safety. As God’s children, we have His promise that He will finish what He started. He will protect us from sin and its consequences but…there is a condition.

Only as we submit to Jesus as Lord and subject our will to His will can He keep us safe and on the way to His eternal presence. If we deviate from His way, we must “shub”, return to His path by changing our minds about Him, us, and our relationship with Him. Yes, we call Jesus “Lord” but even this confession means nothing without willing submission to Him in all things.

We must build this “stone” into our foundation if we want the solid rock of His instructions under our feet. His promise to restore our souls, like the “reset” key on our computer, will quickly put us back into fellowship with Him and on the way to His home in glory of we choose to walk in humble submission to His will. He will restore when we return, a very necessary reassurance to keep us following Jesus all the way to glory.

1 John 1:6-9 NIV
[6] “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

So, life is full of foolish wandering but, He will restore, patiently and whenever we “return”, forsaking our way for His until we reach the destination He promises.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DON’T BE AFRAID OF RELIGIOUS BULLIES

Bible Study, ,

DON’T BE AFRAID OF RELIGIOUS BULLIES

“‘I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by religious bullies. True, they can kill you but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life – body and soul – in His hands.'” Luke 12:4, 5.

Always, always, Jesus put life into its correct perspective. For Him, life includes this life and the life to come. If our concern is only for this life, we will make decisions and choices which will adversely affect us in the eternal realm.

Had He only considered preserving His life for the short time He was on earth, the outcome would have been very different for us human beings. But He didn’t. The writer to the Hebrews puts it like this, ‘”…who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2b NIV).

Jesus was never afraid of the truth. He spoke it and He lived it fearlessly. Truth cannot die and those who hold to the truth cannot be destroyed. The body is destructible and will die, be it by natural or unnatural means, but the inner being will never die. It will continue to live, either with God or without God, depending on what we do with the truth.

Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’ He didn’t even wait for an answer but, unknowingly, he was standing in the presence of the one who said, ‘I am the truth.’ So, what is truth? Everything that God is, says and does is the truth.

Jesus came to represent the Father, and to reveal the Father and He is therefore the embodiment of truth. Look and listen to Jesus and you have an accurate representation of the truth.

Religious bullies come in many subtle disguises. Some kill people who don’t subscribe to their religion. Others kill people’s names in the media and especially on the internet in the name of ‘truth’. Character assassination is a common way of destroying the opposition, especially in political circles.

But Jesus assured us, ‘Don’t worry about people like that. They may kill your name or even your body but they cannot kill you. Only God can do that and you are safe with Him forever if you stand on the side of truth.’

It is neither pleasant nor easy to face the hot breath of lies that is often used against us, especially when we are a threat to people as Jesus was. We either want to curl up or shut up but the counsel from God’s word is, ‘Stand up, speak up and look up.’ You may pay a price for your courage but the reward far outweighs the cost in the long run.

Ungodly people think nothing of using revenge to vindicate themselves when they cannot get their own way, but God’s Word says, ‘Don’t be like them. Let God do your vindicating for you.’ It may not happen in this life but God is a righteous judge. He will always have the last word, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ That question has only one answer – no-one. A man of God once said, ‘Fear God, and you will have nothing else to fear.’

Really Living

Bible Study, , , ,

REALLY LIVING

“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1.

What was wrong with David’s soul that needed restoring? We could replace the word “soul” with “life”. Like everyone else, he was aware that his life was out of sync with God from the beginning. He lamented, after he fell into adultery with Bathsheba, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5.

There was a rebellious streak in him that wanted to do wrong for no real reason. The Apostle Paul was aware of the same drive to push the boundaries just because he could. It was as though there was another self in him, taking over the reins and deliberately going the wrong way when his desire was to obey God.

“For I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” Romans 7:28b, 19.

David knew, like Paul, that it was not possible to pull himself back on course. The strength of the sin nature in him made it impossible for any self-help plan to work. He needed God to get him back on track. As he looked back over the years, he marvelled that God had been there with him with His provision of grace and mercy which kept him from destroying himself, like so many of his descendants did, by kicking over the traces altogether.

Like all of us, David’s life experiences brought doubts, fears and emotional pain that distorted his understanding of God. His many psalms reflect his feelings and moods; anxiety, depression, resentment, bitterness, anger, guilt, shame, disappointment and grief – he went through it all. One thing, however, makes him stand out from the rest – he turned to God for help instead of allowing his feelings to fester inside him.

“David enquired of the Lord,” was the bent of his life. He found the secret of a restored soul. Instead of brooding, or turning his emotions on others, he turned to the Lord. If only we would take a leaf from David’s book. He knew the Lord well enough to offload his emotional baggage on Him without fear because he knew that the Lord would not be affected by his “stuff”.

He did not need long and costly sessions with a psychiatrist or psychologist, or even a Christian counsellor; he had the Lord. It was only at those times when he thought he could go it alone that he went astray. Even then, he chose to return to the Lord and not run from Him as so many of God’s people do because they think that God is finished with them.

But David was not only aware of the grace of God that brought him back from sinful paths and set him right. He also celebrated the good things that the Lord had done through him. He took no credit for his kindness to a potential enemy, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. Instead of having him killed, he brought him out of hiding into his palace and made him a member of his household. He held no grudges against those who wished him ill when his son, Absalom, turned against him. He “paid forward” the mercy that God had shown him.

David had a passion for God’s glory. Whatever he did right was for His sake and not because he thought he was good. It was his response to God’s goodness to him. He had a “God-awareness” that overshadowed his self-awareness, so that he delighted in the Lord and could wallow in His presence and goodness even when everything went wrong.

David’s recipe for enjoying God’s life in him was to “get out of the way and let God be God.”

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.