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. That’s the lower story. The deep places of the spirit and the soul also get thirsty, not natural water but for God: the upper story.

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

How do you define soul? The Hebrew language defines this mysterious word: nephesh. It begins with our breath of life but also includes our heart, 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 became psukee. This word (where we get psyche) also includes our will, emotions, personality, and 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 inner 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 encouraged us to renew our mind (part of the soul) and to have the mind of  Christ. Paul desired believers to understand God through Christ, to think the way He thinks and 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 and nourish your whole being. May your will drive you to know God better through His Word,  seek Him with all your nephesh, all your heart, soul, mind, and strength: your whole self. May you have the attitude of the bride in the Song of Songs 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

They got it.