“…He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:3
Dear Ones:
One of the great benefits of knowing Christ is the promise, and provision, to be restored by Him in our souls. What does this mean? Scripture is very clear in presenting to us that, though we are saved by a perfect Savior, and this salvation is a perfect one in every aspect and application of it, yet, because of our imperfect faith, there will always be room for a greater, more consistent appropriation of Christ, for every need. In honestly assessing our walk with the Lord, we can trace most of our shortcomings, failures, and sins, to a lack of faith in His faithfulness, abiding in Him, and He in us. We are told in the Proverbs that the righteous man falls seven times, but he gets up. The fact that he falls is evidence that he needs to be restored, renewed, encouraged and strengthened to rise up, shake off any guilty fear, and again, embrace Christ as his life. The question then arises, “To what are we to be restored to, and how?”
In Psalm 51, David speaks of the essence of restoration. From his earliest treatment of the subject, we discover that he goes to one place, or one Person, for the work of restoration to be done in his heart. He makes this very clear in Psalm 23 when he writes: “…He restores my soul.” It is God alone, who can truly restore. But, restored to what? It is a coming back to, and experience of, communion with God, where there is no cloud between, and no controversy with Christ. God has made a perfect, and complete, provision in the sacrifice of Christ, so that by the power of His precious blood, ALL sin can be forgiven, blotted out, forgotten. We see this in David’s writing, in his appeal to God for cleansing from sin: “…Wash me THOROUGHLY from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” (Ps. 51:2) David is not just trusting God for forgiveness concerning one sin, but concerning all sin. He wants nothing to come between him and his Lord. Our confidence is that when we confess our sins, as David did, the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn. 1:7,9) Even here in John’s writings, we see that the great issue in restoration is that of fellowship with God, communion with Christ. But where does one go from here, after one has been cleansed, forgiven from sin? We come to the appeal of the heart to God for Him to literally, and actually, “…RENEW a right spirit within me.” (51:10) Not only this, but David goes so far as to ask God: “…Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with a free, or willing, spirit.” (v.12) True restoration is an act of God, by the Spirit, applying the precious blood of Christ to cleanse us, but also, strengthening us, restoring us to a right attitude of mind and heart. The consequent expression of such an intervention by God is that He restores us to the experience of His joy, and the liberty of spirit, whereby we delight to love and serve Christ. It is when we are restored to that alignment with Christ, that the Spirit of God, works in us the willing and the doing of His good pleasure. His joy is again known. What then is the first thing to do, when we sense our need to be restored to God?
In the book of 1st Samuel, we read how that God, in a time of great spiritual need in Israel, “…appeared AGAIN in Shiloh.” (3:21) Essential to Israel’s restoration was a renewed vision of God, His ways, and purpose. Samuel goes on to write: “…for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh, by the word of the Lord.” (v.21) It would be by “the word of the Lord,” that the new, and fresh revelation of the Lord would come. It is this renewed revelation of Christ to the heart, fresh and powerful, that we see the beginning, essence, and realization of true restoration to fellowship with God.
Dear Father, Restore our souls to have fellowship with Thee, today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad