Heal My Soul, O Lord (Psalm 41 Devotional)
“As for me, I said, ‘O Lord be gracious to me. Heal my soul for I have sinned against Thee.’” – Psalm 41:4
When I was a child, I took one of my mother’s spoons, went into the woods, and dug out a little seedling tree. I planted the little guy in my backyard with that same spoon. It was bent, bruised, and broken by years of football games and tag in my backyard with friends. But it stood, and survived, and grew. Decades later, it was a huge tree.
Part of what happens as we come into the presence of the Lord is the healing of our souls. He desires a type of redemption that restores our very souls. We came into this world as innocent sinners. Innocent in that we had not made any choices yet against the will of God. But the seed of sin was in there, germinating. Like seeds in the soil of early spring, sin would eventually rise to the surface in all of us. From the moment we were born, sin began to sprout.
But with the miracle of salvation, two amazing things happened. One is that we were instantly and fully forgiven, and our divine destinies sealed. We went in an instant from being children of wrath to children of God - sealed with the Spirit, new creations, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and seated in the heavenly place. The seed of sin became the seed of righteousness.
But another miracle takes place in our lives through the work of the Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit began the process of our sanctification. We all, through our natural bents and destructive choices, carry scar tissue of the soul - areas of brokenness, impurity, greed, malice, anger, and unforgiveness. But Christ, through the work and power of the Spirit, is in the process of transforming us through the renewing of our minds. We were saved, but the Word also says we are being saved. Salvation happens in an instant, but it will take a lifetime to come to fruition. That is the process of sanctification - God growing us into who we were meant to be.
And as we are watered with the Word and pruned by circumstances, we will grow from a seedling to a sapling, to a mature tree. Sometimes God will touch areas of our lives and we will grow quickly, but more often it is a slow, arduous process. As someone said, it just takes a night to grow a mushroom, but a century to grow a mighty oak. In our lives God wants to grow us into mighty trees, that not only stand firm through storms, but also produce fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And that life-giving fruit is not for us, it’s for others.
Questions for Thought
How has God been pruning you?
How do you get watered?
When you look back, do you see how much God has changed you?
