Faithful on Fridays Blog

Care for Your Soul

I spend almost half of my year in Arizona and it doesn’t take long to realize that I need water all day long. I don’t sit down and drink 8 glasses of water and say, “OK, done for the day.” No, I drink continuously throughout the day. My body needs it; I crave it. There are deep and hidden places in a person called the spirit and the soul that also get hungry and thirsty for God.

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. (Psalms 63:1 NLT)

Just what is the soul? The Hebrew language defines this mysterious word: nephesh. It begins with our breath of life but continues to include our heart, our desires, and even our mind. It’s our total existence that’s driven by our will. We know David understood the concept of the soul as he wrote Psalm 63 from the desert, giving us this profound image.

When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek the word soul was psukee. This word (where we get psyche) also includes our will, emotions, personality, and our mind, therefore, our soul drives our behavior and attitudes. Can you see where I’m going? When the soul is not renewed every day our motivations can lead to impure behavior. Our attitudes take a fall and we don’t know why we’re depressed, hopeless, fearful… we haven’t taken care of our life, our soul.

When we spend time with God, seeking Him, we nourish our soul. The thirst is quenched and the hunger is satisfied. I can’t see it, I can’t explain it, but I do experience it. My entire person, my core, is filled: it only takes time and will.

Paul, being a religious leader, also understood the soul, nephesh: our life in God. He encourages us to renew our mind (part of the soul) and to have the mind (soul) of Christ. Paul desires believers to understand God through Christ, to think the way He thinks, have His attitudes, and opinions. How often does my mind lead me in the wrong direction, even into sin, because I haven’t spent quality time with Him being transformed.

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. (Psalm 107:9 ESV)

I am praying for you, dear Reader, to respond to His call of nourishing your whole being. May your will drive you to know God better; to seek Him with your nephesh, all of your heart, soul, and might: your whole self. May you have the attitude of the bride in the Song of Solomon who was continuously seeking the face of the One ‘whom my soul loves,’ and Mary the mother of Christ who declared:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, (Luke 1:46, 47 ESV)