He Restores My Soul
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
Matthew Henry reminds us that many of David's psalms are “full of complaints, but this is full of comforts and the expressions of delight in God's great goodness and man’s dependence upon Him.” As it was for believers in David’s own time, this is a psalm which has brought and continues to bring comfort and joy to Christians.
Psalm 23 is a beautiful description of our spiritual journey: following our Shepherd, grazing in green pastures, dwelling in peace, protected from harm, refreshed by waters, and fed with protection. The picture was a reality for David as God provided all goodness and refreshment to him, as royalty, at the well spread table, in battles with enemies, with a cup that overflowed with goodness and mercy all his days. The Psalm is a picture of reality for us as well as it describes our relationship with and in Christ Jesus.
This beautiful psalm is a quintessential portrait of our Lord Jesus. The constant restoration of our souls, our hearts, and our minds is experienced by us only when we are led by our Shepherd, dwelling in the pasture that He protects. Jesus brought this Shepherd to life when He dwelt among men in the flesh - a demonstration of all goodness, the embodiment of light, the source of restoration of the soul that brings comfort, protection, and peace.
It is impossible to fully understand how our spiritual restoration and refreshment works as we dwell in the pasture of our Shepherd, but it does. Jesus Himself in His beautiful sermon in John 10 allowed those who had witnessed the terrible storms of bitter debate He had incurred in Jerusalem to enter the calm pasture of his fold. Jesus describes His sheep as those who hear and know His voice. He is a loving Shepherd willing to go to great lengths to look for His lost sheep, actively protecting the sheep belonging to Him by guarding the door and building a wall around them.
To restore, by definition, is to bring back into existence, to renew, to bring back or put back into an original state. David praises his Shepherd, his Lord for leading him to the green pastures and still waters that provide a continual refreshment and restoration. The waters and pastures of eternal life, where no fear of even death looms. A fold that is not lacking anything good. The renewing of our souls being daily worked through our Shepherd who calls us with affection, following His new ewes and lambs with a watchful eye, and rescuing the ones who have gone astray. I wonder if we miss the refreshment because we can’t hear the voice of the Shepherd or because we do not understand the spiritual blessings provided within this fold.
You know, the type of restoration described in this song of David is a pasture that most do not want to graze in. Matthew Henry says of this Psalm, “The greatest abundance is but a dry pasture to a wicked man, who relishes in it only that which pleases the senses; but to a godly man, who tastes the goodness of God in all his enjoyments, and by faith relishes that, though he has but little of the world, it is a green pasture.” Restoration cannot be found in earthly feasts and banquets, fine wine and apparel, elevated position, entertainment, earthly treasure, science and medicine, or wisdom found in the best institutions of learning.
The refreshment and restoration of the soul can only be experienced by those sheep inside the fold of the Good Shepherd named Jesus. It comes when the tender grace and compassion of Jesus the loving Caregiver has been given and extended to one who would otherwise be excommunicated from the fold, when one worthy of being shut out of the pasture is provided entrance into the fold. A fold was a necessary construction project for a shepherd - who would then fold his sheep in for the night. It could be an open courtyard in a city, or be made of stone walls in a desert, pasture, or open field. The walls may have branches with thorns placed on top to make sure that only those who the Shepherd deemed worthy could enter.
Psalm 119: 173-176 reminds us of how easily we wander as the author begs the Lord to be with him even when he wanders away; “May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, Lord, and your instruction is my delight. Let me live, and I will praise you; may your judgments help me. I wander like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commands.”
Jesus the loving Shepherd restores us when we wander, and if He did not, if He were not our ever-present Shepherd, we would be destined to wander aimlessly and endlessly until we were finally undone in a desert land without a fold. And while God suffered us to sin, He did not suffer us to be without a way of restoration…through Jesus our Shepherd. He is the source, the strength, the loving Shepherd who would die for His sheep so that we might be restored, reconciled, and dwelling in His eternal fold.