It is our soul that becomes depleted by the things of this life. There is too much busyness and not enough time to think and reflect. How does God restore your soul? The word “restore” means “to return to its original state”. It’s like clothes that we dirty and have now been cleaned. There is a part of us that is not physical that needs to be restored. God can restore our soul.

1 – Five things that deplete our souls

• People – Too much of a good thing can be bad for us. We need time alone.
• Draining people – These are people with special needs who can really drain our souls. We need to make time to restore our souls or we become a person with special needs!
• Busyness – We work long hours without much leisure time. We need to learn to say more “No” and less “Yes”.
• Coveting – For example, we want promotion, pay raise or new car, etc.
• Problems – They just drain us further.

2 – Things that restore our souls

• Sleep – It is important to get sleep. There are people who have difficulty sleeping. Sleep restores our soul.
• Rest – You can’t rest until you have had enough sleep. When you rest you don’t have to do anything!
• Reflection – You need to get away from negative thinking and spend time with God. You need time to look back and see what you have learnt. You need to look up to God. Look around and see who has needs. Look ahead to the days to come.
• Diversion – We need to find things to do that will restore our souls. The number one diversion is reading. The next is watching television. Other diversions include spending time with family, gardening, walking or fishing. It is about doing something different.
• Ministry – The ministry of the Word can restore our souls – if we have the previous four things. Without the other things ministry can seem like a burden to us.

3 – “Green pastures”

God has green pastures. It is a beautiful place. It is a place to be alone with time to think. There is no telephone ringing or other distractions. It is a place with God. We need of this in our life. God makes us to lie down. We are not running, standing or sitting. We need to lie down in humility before the Lord and meet with Him.

The Lord “makes us” to lie down. God has to sometimes make us lie down in green pastures. We need to be in control of what we say yes and no to. If we do not, then God will make us lie down. The green pastures may not be green from our perspective. They are always green from God’s perspective. God would break the leg of a lamb that kept running off to make it lie down.

4 – “Still waters”

Still waters are deep. God brings us to places of quietness where the water is deep.

• We need our soul restored when we can’t get into the Bible.
• We need our soul restored when we are not praying about something repeatedly.
• We need our soul restored when we know something is wrong but we have no self control.

Christ repeatedly got alone from the crowd and the disciples. If Christ needed still waters and green pastures, then we need to do the same. Try spending three separate hours a week alone with the Lord.

Categories: Psalms