Dr. D's Devotional
Title: Psalm 23.3
by Dennis Reschke
Psalm 23.3
Continuing in Ps 23 the 3rd verse: "He restores my soul: he
leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." The Old Covenant
predominantly dealt with the soul and body of people because spiritual restoration
was not yet available; Jesus had not yet died and made the new birth available.
The New Covenant makes distinction between the soul and the spirit: Heb.
4:12 "For the word of God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit..."
The word soul here in Greek is psuche, the word for spirit pneuma. The Scripture
divides the soul from the spirit. Also 1Thes 5:23 says, "And the very God
of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul
and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
This is the clearest verse I know that delineates our three part being.
There's a saying that I like: "We are saved, we are being saved, and we
will be saved". In other words, as believers, our spirits are already saved,
our souls are being saved, and our bodies will be saved when immortal shall
put on immortality (1Cor 15:54). In the Hebrew "soul" is defined to include
the notions of mind, will, and emotions. We might call this our personality.
When we are saved are souls are largely unaffected. It takes the Word of
God to change our minds and exchange is for His (Rom 12:2). As we change
our thinking by putting on the mind of Christ (Col 3:10), we fundamentally
change who we are. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Pr 23:7). Thus,
God "restores our souls". We are all "dysfunctional" through sin. We were
born into and bred by it. The only remedy is the Truth. By eating God's
Word (Jer 15:16) it becomes part of us. If we'll allow Him, He will consume
us with Himself.
God wants us to be like Him for His name's sake. "What we have seen and
[ourselves] heard we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and
enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship
that we have (which is a distinguishing mark of Christians) is with the
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah" (1 John 1:3, amp). Man
is something really special. He is made in the image of God. He is made
to have fellowship with God. Some people get the idea that God made man
so He'd have someone to dominate. But God is not a dominator. God is love
and love needs to give to someone. That's why God made man. He made him
so He could give him His love. God could have given His love to the angels,
and He did that. But giving to angels didn't provide total fulfillment.
Why? Because angels aren't made in His image. You're the same way. Let's
say, for example, you have a puppy as a pet. You can fellowship with that
little pet just so much, but then there comes a time when you need to talk
to somebody. There comes a time when you need to have communication on your
own level. The reason you're like that is because you're created in the
image of God. That's how He is. He has a desire to fellowship with someone
like Himself.
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