This is the scary question that Martha asks Jesus in Luke 10. Life is hard, and when we are feeling the pressures of life we can say things that we don’t really mean. We know from Scripture that Martha loved Jesus and trusted Him. But in this moment (anxiety and trouble over showing hospitality to Jesus the house guest), Martha expresses herself in a way that doubts if Jesus cares about her.

We can all relate to Martha in this situation.

Let me remind us all again — Jesus does care about you! In 1 Peter 5:7 we see “casting all your anxieties on Him because HE CARES for you.”

A few Sundays ago I preached on this passage. And this clip below is me speaking to Martha’s comment ‘do you not care?’

If there is anyone in the world that does care about our struggles, it is Jesus. May we trust Him and His loving care for us!

Does it come with benefits? How many times have you heard this?

A job may pay well, but it does not provide any benefits. A job may not pay all that well, but it provides lots of great benefits.

The benefits matter!

Psalm 103:1-2 says:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits“

God wants us to understand that knowing Him comes with so many benefits. Being a Christian and knowing Jesus has full benefits!

The rest of Psalm 103 goes on to name just a few of the wonderful benefits of being a child of God.

• v.3 he forgives
• v.3 he heals
• v.4 he redeems
• v.4 he crowns you with love and mercy
• v.5 he satisfies
• v.5 he renews

And the Psalm goes on and on. There are so many benefits to being a follower of Jesus.

I wonder, has our outreach failed to model the benefits? Has our evangelism failed to communicate the benefits? Has our discipleship failed to teach the benefits? Do our church people even have the benefits?

When people are new to a job you will sometimes hear them say “But my benefits have not kicked in yet.” With Jesus this is not the case, to know God is to have His benefits! May our faith in Jesus be beneficial, let us forget not all his benefits!

I am reminded of one of my favorite songs to sing (Beautiful Savior) and some of the benefits it lists = Sins forgiven; Conscience cleansed; Death defeated; Life without end.

I recently read through the book of Psalms again. I knew going into it that the Psalms display a full range of emotions. But this time around, I was struck by how often the varying emotions are coming from “the soul.”

The Soul is the realest and deepest part of us. We are to love God and trust Jesus from the soul. We are to follow and obey God from the inside-out, from the soul.

Here are 4 Observations of the Soul from the Psalms: (You can see the full sermon here.)

1. THE HONEST SOUL
   For centuries, Christians have been drawn to the Psalms because of their honesty. There are sad and happy Psalms. There are calm and angry Psalms. There are clear and confused Psalms.

Life is like that. The Soul is like that. We need to be honest about our souls.

A great example comes from Psalm 86. Verse 1 says “I am poor and needy.” And then verse 2 says “I am godly.” And then verse 3 says “I cry all the day.” That is brutally honest!

Honesty requires truth over falsehood. When we are more concerned with the outer life than the inner life then we are more in line with legalism and being like Pharisees and white-washed-tombstones. God is worshipped from the soul. We need to be honest about our souls.

2. THE HURTING SOUL
The Psalms show us that sometimes the child of God hurts. Sometimes the hurt is soul-deep. There are many Psalms that teach us this.

In Psalm 42, we see a strong repetitive emphasis on the soul. We also see this refrain “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”

So much of faith and church has missed this point. The soul hurts. We need God’s healing love to help with our hurt. We do well to be honest and admit when we hurt spiritually.

3. THE HEALING SOUL
The Psalms also show us of souls that are being healed. Words like “revive” and “restore” are used of the soul.

In Psalm 19:7 we see “the Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”

In Psalm 23:3 we see “He restores my soul.”

Restoring means that it empties and then needs to be refilled/restored. Which means we can be honest about that. There is a hurting soul, and there is also a healing soul.

4. THE HAPPY SOUL
Praise the Lord, the Psalms also show us the happy soul. Yes, the Psalms are full of emotions. But there is the reality of a happy and content soul. God’s love satisfies deep down. The redemption that comes through Jesus is a soul-satisfying salvation.

Psalm 139:14 says “I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well.”

Let us be honest about our souls. When they hurt, let us look to Christ for healing. The healing soul will soon be a happy soul!

Lately I have been speaking a lot more Spanish. Honestly, I have been attempting more to speak Spanish.

And there is a phrase that has become so useful to me. That Spanish phrase is “No entiendo.” Which simply means “I don’t understand.” I usually combine it with “Perdon. Lo siento, pero no entiendo.” (I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.)

Whenever I say this, it helps me greatly with the person I am communicating with. They will usually slow down, say it again, and even say it in a way that is easier for me to understand.

I have found that when I just admit and tell them that I am not getting it, then it helps. And then we figure it out.

Also recently, I read the book of Psalms in the Bible. And in the super-long Psalm 119, I was struck by this frequent expression “Give Me Understanding.”

Psalm 119 verses 34, 73, 125, 144, and 169 all say “give me understanding.”

What a simple and clear and beautiful prayer!

Asking God to give us understanding is a healthy posture of faith and trust. Life can be confusing. We are often faced with situations in life that we don’t understand. Decision-making, conflict, opportunities, open-doors, and so on require some understanding. Looking to God to give us that understanding is the way to go. Following Jesus requires understanding, and God is ready to give it to us.

Psalm 119 models this for us five different times.

I want to encourage you to begin praying “Give Me Understanding” to God, and see how much that helps your faith and relationship with Jesus.