“He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:3 KJV
David moves from comparing himself to a sheep and the Lord to a shepherd and begins to talk about how there are times when his soul is in need of being restored and that the One who is able to do that is God. God is able to renew us, renew our souls, bring us back to a healthy spiritual state, where we were before we moved away from God and towards the world, as we so often do. We are not perfect and even though we want to remain as close to God as we can be, we drift away from God at times, much like sheep drift away from the herd. We leave the path that God has been leading us on, the path of righteousness, and wander away from God’s teaching and His guidance.
When we realize that we are no longer close to our Lord, we are able to ask for direction, but we have to be willing to do what the Lord instructs us to do so that we can come closer to Him. When we are willing and ask, God shows us the path we need to be on, brings us close to Him, restores our souls, and we are renewed.
God knows what is best for us, the best path for us to be on, it is us who tend to wander from that path. We do this for many reasons, which are not as important as the fact that God is willing to bring us back to Him. He is willing to restore our souls after we have strayed off as we humans do sometimes. He is willing to put us back on the right path that we are to be walking on. He is willing to forgive us and He continues to love us.
Does your soul need restoring? Do you find yourself on a different path than the one God has been leading you on? Have you stopped and thought about how you are going to get back on the path intended you to be on? God is the only way to have your soul restored or to return to the path that God started you on before you wandered off. If you answered yes to any of those questions, I encourage you to stop what you are doing and pray to our Lord and Savior. Ask Him for the help you need to get back on the correct path, the path that God has planned out for you. Let God restore your soul.