He Restores My Soul

Many times, King David, the writer of Psalm 23, needed to have his soul restored—to have life put back into him.

When Saul was chasing David and threatening to kill him, God restored his courage and confidence.

During those days of grief after David lost his son Absalom in death, God restored his soul.

When David sinned with Bathsheba and felt the heavy hand of God on him as a result, his soul was restored and God also restored the relationship with him.

In this psalm that relationship is depicted as a shepherd with his sheep. When a sheep is covered with a large amount of wool and falls over onto its side, it is very difficult for it to get up again.

After a few hours, the sheep’s stomach will expand with gases and eventually compress its lungs. If the shepherd doesn’t intervene to restore the sheep to an upright position and then massage its legs to restore circulation, the sheep will soon die.

In a similar way, when sins or trials put us flat on our backs, overwhelming us with grief and despair, it takes a shepherd to restore our souls.

As we pray, read and meditate on scripture, and enjoy fellowship with other believers, our Shepherd reassures us with his grace and mercy and gives us back our strength, joy and courage.

Prayer: Dear Lord, our Shepherd, thank you for hearing our cries of helplessness and for restoring us to life and relationship with you. Amen