By Rev. Daniel Yaw 

Introduction
Psalm 23 is indeed an old favorite yet so rich when we view it from the relational perspective.  The Lord is our Shepherd whom we have no lack.  Why so?  Is He sufficient?

As I share my thoughts on this psalm, I trust that you would appreciate it more and enrich your relationship with God.

Allow me to continue with verse 3 – “He restores my soul, he leads me in the path of righteousness for his namesake.”

As I meditate on the word “restore”, I began to see how careful our Lord is with us and how he wants the best for us and of us.  God is in the business of bringing out the best in all of us.  That is what we all feel when we come to any relationship as well.  When we get married, we hope to play our part in bringing out the best of our spouses.  When we have children, we want to bring the best out of them.  When we have good friends and colleagues, we also strive to try to bring the best out of them.  However, sadly, we have not been able to do that to our best.  Yet when we think of Jesus, our good Shepherd, that is what He does.

Thinking of the word and the work of restoration, I thought of three words that I would like to share.

RENEW
This is the first word, renewal.  God is in the business of renewal in every aspect of our lives.  He is in the restoration business indeed.  When we came to know the Lord, we are being renewed to be new creations of God for the old has passed away and what is ahead of us is new.  We always like to say, “Let us start afresh.”  Indeed we would want to but so often we are not able unless something drastic happens.  It happened when we came to the Lord.  We all need renewal.

Then on a daily basis, we need a renewal of our mind with all the challenges and mistakes we make.  Again that is the promise of God as found in Romans 12:1-2 – that we will be transformed by the renewal of our mind.  The Word of God has been provided for us to do that.

We see a lot of renewal from the negative to the positive.  But then what about the neutral?  What about wanting to do more for God and yet finding it a challenge with our aging bones and stamina?  Again our Shepherd restores us in that while we are becoming weaker physically, we are being renewed in the inner man.

Renewal has the idea of regaining inner strength and resolving to pursue after God more.  When we wait upon God, we shall be renewed with wings as eagles.

RETRIEVE
Restoration has also the idea of retrieval, in that when we have wandered from the Lord, He is there to retrieve us back and put on back on track.  We can never guarantee how faithful we can be to the Lord.  There are enough times we have encountered the experience of wanting to forsake the Lord with the challenges of life. Recently, I met an old friend who had an amazing story.  He graduated from Bible College and served the Lord for a short time (perhaps just over a year) and then he became disillusioned and left the ministry.  I lost touch with him for many years.  By accident, I bumped into him on the street and began to hear his story.  He left the ministry and Christianity and literally sold himself to the devil and became a wealthy gangster leader.  Many years down the road, the Lord caught up with him and now he is back in the ministry.  That is retrieval. 

I have heard many stories of one who is wayward and came to know the Lord and then even served him but perhaps this is the first time I hear of someone who is already in the service of God, turned away so badly, and then return. What a gracious God.  Hearing that I find great comfort that my great Shepherd restores our soul.

REVIVE
This is my last word and this word pushes me forward even greater.  When God does his work of restoration, He also revives us to fulfill his purpose.  I can imagine that if we were wayward, and then God restores us, we may be content to be walking with God.  Or even when he renews us, we gain the strength to follow him.

But to be revived or fired up for Him is quite another story.  Back to the friend I mentioned above, not only was he back to the Lord but seeing him serving even more fervently tells me the complete work of God’s restoration.  His relationship with God is like one solid unshakable entity.  He mentioned that obedience is not even an option for him now.  Once he hears the command of God, he goes.  He made this statement – “I now owe my life to him.”  Coming from the culture of gangsterism, he said that if he saved someone’s life, that person literally would become a slave to him willingly.  If that is happening in this world, why are we not indebted to God who saved us time and time again?

Conclusion
“He restores my soul”.  What a powerful and intimate word from the psalmist and God.  I pray that we will come to that realization of such a wonderful Shepherd we have.  May God bless you all.