“He Restores My Soul…”
Psalm 23:3

This particular psalm is probably one of the most beloved of the psalms and the imagery used describes God as the Supreme Shepherd of his people. The first verse puts forth the heart of the psalm –“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want…” However, we will not deal with the entire psalm today. The Holy Spirit pointed out verse (3) to me and that is what we will look at in this message. “He restores my soul…”

To restore implies something has been taken away or needs to be put back into a previous state. In this psalm, the word restore carried the meaning of renewal, repair, or restoration and rest. In addition, the word soul often referred to the whole person rather than the moral and emotional nature of our human makeup.
What is the significance of having our soul restored? We may get a better idea by recalling the pastoral setting the psalmist uses. Sheep would often wander off; most of the time it was not deliberate. As they fed in the pastures and hillsides, their habit was to eat and move a little, then eat and move a little more. They would keep this up until they simply wandered away from the herd and got lost.
Stay with me here.,

This particular psalm is ascribed to David and was supposed to have been written later in his life. David most likely looked back at his life and saw how God had so graciously and tenderly cared for him as a shepherd does his sheep. In fact, David himself had been a shepherd at one time. Therefore, it would be natural for him to see God as a tender and caring Shepherd. However, David also saw himself as one of the sheep in the fold who had wandered off and was in need of restoration. David needed to be renewed; restored, healed…David needed some rest from the wanderings in his life.
After a rather glorious start in his calling, David began to wander…he left the place of intimate fellowship he enjoyed with God. He also looked to fill the gaps in his life by pursuing things that the Lord was not giving him at this time.
David wandered…David lusted, coveted, murdered, lied. Now his heart was beginning to grow hard and his godly influence grew weaker by the day.

Perhaps you’ve wandered…maybe by accident or neglect…or maybe as in several instances in David’s life, you deliberately wandered. David began to pay the price for his wanderings. He experienced the bitter taste of death in his family. He also felt the crushing pain of disobedient children. David knew the weight of a guilty conscience and the ache of a heart broken by betrayal. There was not too much that David did not experience, yet in and through it all, he was able to look back and say that God had cared for him and went after him in his wanderings.

We begin to wander when we hurt…when we question…when we leave the place of fellowship with the Holy Spirit…we begin to wander when we sin.

Earlier I mentioned that the word soul carried the meaning of the whole person and that it precisely what God wants to restore in us. The Holy Spirit impressed on my heart that many of us have wandered. Some by accident, some from neglect, some deliberately….That it not so much the point right now. What is the point is that God wants to restore, renew, heal, and give rest. Some of us are so weary in our walk and we need the rest of God. When your are weary you can make mistakes.

How do we arrive at the point of restoration? Of course, it is by the work of the Holy Spirit but we must cooperate with Him. As I looked at David’s life, I saw three specific things David did to get to a point of restoration that are found in Scripture.

First, he needed to return. In other words, he needed to remember where he came from and turn his attitude in that direction. Many of us know we need to return but refuse to point our attitude in that direction.

2 Chron 30:6-9
At the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:
"People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. 8 Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the LORD. Come to the sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. 9 If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him."
Isa 44:22
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."

Second- Take responsibility-
Num 18:1
The LORD said to Aaron, "You, your sons and your father's family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood.
The Lord gives each of His children responsibilities and He empowers us to carry them out. Too many of us find excuses and ways to justify our laziness and neglect. But God is not impressed by excuses…although he is moved when we take responsibility for our wanderings

Third – repent –
Jer 15:19Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me Acts 3:18-20 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
When we return and take responsibility for our wanderings and repent of our selfish, rebellious ways, God can and will restore us. Restoration is mentioned at least fourteen times in Jeremiah. One verse in particular spoke to me –
Jer 30:17
But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the LORD, (my wounds)

God will go to unimaginable lengths to restore his children…far beyond any thing we could conceive. The Bible says, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” (Isa 53:6)
“My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.” Ezek 34:6
“For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.” Ezek 34:11-16

During the recent uprisings in the Middle East, Ron and Jake Jones, who serve with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Israel, communicated the following in their prayer letter:
The result of the fighting and killing has left a profound sense of discouragement that hovers over the country. Several times we have come into closer contact with this conflict than our comfort zone allowed.
Yesterday a friend shared with us something she observed that was a delightful reminder of God's care for us. She watched a shepherd caring for his flock near the area where guns are fired. Every time the shots rang out the sheep scattered in fright. The shepherd then touched each of them with his staff and spoke calmly to them, and the sheep settled down immediately because they trusted the shepherd. And then another shot sounded, and the same routine happened again. Each time, the sheep needed the shepherd to orient them again and to reassure them they were safe.
We are like those sheep, and our Shepherd reaches out and touches us with his staff, speaking words of calm and comfort.

Acts 3:21-22
“He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”
Before we leave today, take some time to prepare your heart for restoration.