Restored

Psalm 23 tells us that the Shepherd does not merely guide our steps or provide for our needs. He restores our souls. In Scripture, the soul is not a small invisible part of us tucked somewhere inside the body. The soul is the whole self. It is the life of a person before God. It includes our thoughts, emotions, choices, bodies, habits, desires, relationships, and longings. To say, “He restores my soul,” is to say that God is at work putting the whole person back together again. This kind of restoration begins with repentance, but not repentance as shame or religious humiliation.