Let’s continue in Psalm 23 with verse 3 today:
“He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Ps 23:3 ESV
Which one of us doesn’t need a restored soul, right?! Restored can mean to bring back to a former healthy state, but it also means to fix or repair too. Each one of us like sheep have gone astray…we memorized that verse a couple of weeks ago, and it means that every human has a broken soul that must be fixed by our Good Shepherd. The thoughts we think are self-centered. The emotions we feel are self-absorbed. The desires we will are selfish. MMI. This is the brokenness we inherited at The Downfall. As I have said before, we were created for Upward and outward, but the fall of Humanity caused us to go inward, instead, and when we do, we are not being who we were created to be and trouble ensues.
MMI. This Prideful state is where our soul fell into when our spirits were separated from God and died because God is Life. God is Life and without Him all we have is death. But praise God, He is also Love. Love seeks to fix, to repair that which is broken. Our Good Shepherd seeks the lost so that He can restore us to the person we were always meant to be: God’s beloved, holy children. Holy not because children are expected to act perfectly all the time, but holy because we are set apart from this world, and set apart from who we used to be, without Him.
Our Good Shepherd begins picking deadly lice out of our fur…you know those thoughts that invade our minds and lead to pain and problems….He renews our minds. (Ro 12:2) Our Good Shepherd sets the downcast sheep back on their feet…you know those emotions that try to either keep us so depressed, or so full of ourselves…He sets them straight. (2Co 10:5) Our Good Shepherd pours healing oil on us…you know those desires that will not help anyone, not even us…He transforms them. (2Co 3:18) And here is our reality, even after the Good Shepherd does all this for us, He knows we will fall again…and again…and again…more tomorrow.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
35- Mt 16:24
36- Isa 53:6
37- Ps 23:1-3
<>< Peace, Diane
