It was the mid-90s when I walked into my parent's house and Mom told me Dad had been diagnosed with cancer. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I found my father sitting in his chair. His eyes were red from tears, his Bible lay on his lap. It was open to Psalm 23.
In the darkness of the diagnosis, he found comfort in the words of David. Words no doubt read hundreds of times, yet in the bitterness of an unwanted reality the words breathed new life.
How often it happens - words we've heard over and over, that they've lost their impact. Words read so often, we quickly pass over them barely paying attention. Until one day it sticks.
The words become powerful once again.
This past week I struggled. I beat myself up. I made wrong choices, said ungrace-filled things. I got tired. I began to read the words my Dad found comfort in so many years ago.
...He makes me lie down in green pastures...
God, I could really use some green pastures about now. Things are feeling a little barren and brown.
...He leads me beside still waters....
Still waters sound peaceful. I could use some peaceful. Life has been hectic, could you still the waters for me Jesus?
...He restores my soul...
The blinders came off, and the words laid like a weight on my heart.
He restores my soul.
He does not fix it.
He does not transform it.
He does not make it like new.
He restores it.
The claw marks left from sin grabbing at my soul will be gone.
The black paint my wrong choices have smeared all over my soul, will be no more.
The chips and dings marked on my soul by my brokenness, will disappear.
Jesus restores my soul. With the pain-staking perfection of the Artist who created the original, He will restore it. The vivid colors He always intended me - us - to have, will once again shine through in all their vibrancy.
At the still waters, the chaos strips away.
At the still waters, I lay it all open.
At the still waters, I whisper for help.
At the still waters, He hears me.
At the still waters, He begins.
He leads me besides still waters.
He restores my soul.
