Restoration

I woke up this morning with a feeling of dread and slight panic of how I was going to get through the day ahead. School is hard work, R's new online school timetable is making my head spin, children are a challenge, there are so many people to see and not enough time to see them. The list could go on. But you know when you read something which absolutely speaks into how you're feeling? That happened this morning as I read a little section of Nancy Leigh DeMoss' book A Place of Quiet Rest. She is going through the purposes of spending time alone with God. Today was all about restoration. She says,

One of the major reasons we can’t handle the demands of day-to-day living is that our spirits are weary. Our souls need to be restored. And that is another purpose of setting aside time to be alone in God’s presence each day. 

As we walk through each day, responding to the needs of those around us, we can become physically, emotionally, and spiritually depleted. God has a never-ending supply of grace, strength, and wisdom available that He wants to flow through us to others. And we need to keep coming back into His presence to get our supply replenished. 

The circumstances and demands of a typical day may cause us to fall wearily into bed at night. But when we awake in the morning, His mercies are new and fresh (Lamentations 3:23). If we fail to stop and draw from His fresh, infinite supply of mercy and grace, we will find ourselves having to operate out of our own depleted, meager resources. 

The psalmist knew what it was to get his soul restored in the presence of God. Many of the Psalms begin with expressions of fear, terror, anger, frustration, or confusion. But as he pours out his heart to the Lord, his whole perspective is changed, and he receives a fresh infusion of supernatural hope and strength. 

Listen to the prayer of David when he is out in the wilderness fleeing from an insanely jealous king who is obsessed with taking his life: 

O God, you are my God,    earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,    my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land    where there is no water…. Because your love is better than life,    my lips will glorify you…. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods…. Because you are my help,    I sing in the shadow of your wings. 

PSALM 63:1, 3, 5, 7 

You can sense the restoration taking place in David’s soul as he cries out to God in the midst of another crisis.

 The restoration of our souls is a ministry of our Great Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want…. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:1, 3). The Hebrew word translated “restore” in Psalm 23 is a word that is more often translated “return” in the Old Testament. It is used to speak of God’s people returning to Him and of God returning to His people. The word suggests “movement back to the point of departure.” The implication here is that He restores our souls back to their original resting place—in Him. He does so by means of His Spirit and His Word: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2). Notice that the sheep don’t get fed, refreshed, and restored on the run. They must be willing to slow down, to stop at times, to be still, to lie down.

 Often I find myself giving out and giving out and giving out, but not taking time to get back to the still, quiet waters where my Shepherd wants to restore my soul. If I don’t take time to get my spiritual tank refilled, I soon find myself “running on fumes.” Before long, the least little demand is more than I can handle, and I find myself reacting to even minor annoyances and interruptions out of frustration and irritation.

 It is in those daily devotional times alone with Him that He calms my spirit, slows down my racing pulse, and gives me fresh perspective and renewed desire and strength to serve Him another day.