He restores our souls …

There’s no greater experience a human can have than that of being saved from sin by His Creator …

“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins,” Colossians 1:13.

Although we have been “converted,” not everything has been fully restored … yet! It will be when Jesus returns, but until then, there are trials in life yet to be faced, and a restless longing to be with our Lord …

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)” Romans 8:18-24.

How do we endure from now until we see Jesus? Where do we find the strength to persevere through all that life requires? David gives us an insight to these questions in one of his psalms …

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” – Psalm 23:1-3 (NASB).

We discover the way, the strength, the capacity to navigate all of life because God sustains us — He “restores” our souls. To help us better understand this restoring work God provides, Johnny Wilson shares a story he wrote for the USDA Forest Service:

When I was young, my family used to go camping up at the Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park. I always thought the campground was named after some kind of Native American tent pole. It was much later that I discovered it was named after a type of pine tree.

The interesting thing about the Lodgepole Pine is that it seems to be specifically created by God for opposition. Its pine cones are not as easy to break as those of other species, making it difficult for animals and birds to gather their seeds. Rather, the seeds are only released under extreme heat. My cousin Don and I used to love to sneak pine cones into the fire so they would pop and make people jump.

But I think the real significance of the design of the Lodgepole is that it serves to reseed the forest after a fire. The seeds are dormant until they are needed after a crisis. The opposition of the extreme heat brings about the release of the life-giving seeds so that reforesting can begin.*

*According to the USDA Forest Service, “The cones of the Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) are … pyriscent: they are sealed with a resin that a fire melts away, releasing the seeds.”

That’s the same way God graciously “restores our souls.” As long as we are in control and attempting to go our own way under our own strength, grace remains trapped in the “cone” of self-sufficiency. But when the heat of life’s trials are applied, and we find ourselves weak and helpless, that is when God’s soul-restoring grace is released.

The word used in the psalm for “restore” connotes the idea of “to bring back.” When life is too big, too hard, too much for us, when we’ve wandered off on our own and are lost, God brings us back to Himself and shepherds us to safety and peace … He restores our souls! The Apostle Peter described God’s restoring work like this …

“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation,” 1 Peter 5:10.

David concluded his psalm with these words …

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 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 have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” Psalm 23:4-6 (NASB).

Are you need of the restoring grace of God in your life? Call out to Him and seek Him, He longs to restore your soul as He shepherds you to a place of peace and renewed strength only He can provide.

Scotty