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.)
- 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!