He Restores My Soul
Tom Shrader walks through Psalm 23:3, focusing on God's promise to restore the soul and guide believers in paths of righteousness. Using the imagery of a 'cast' sheep — one helplessly on its back and unable to right itself — he explains that every follower of Christ will face seasons of discouragement and need the Shepherd's intervention. He points to Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and renewed hope in God rather than in circumstances, relationships, or possessions as the path back to wholeness.
“When Satan discourages us and gets us down and defeated, we become easy prey for his hellish host of his other tools.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Psalm 23
Recorded: 2007 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 42 min
Themes: restoration, soul, discouragement, hope, guidance, shepherding, wholeness, spiritual renewal, feeling hopeless, spiritually stuck, struggling with discouragement, new believer, going through hardship, burned out, seeking direction, feeling helpless
Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6, Psalm 23:3, Job 30:16-28, Psalm 42:11, Psalm 43:5, 2 Timothy 3:16, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 2:10
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, pastoral care, pneumatology, holy spirit, divine guidance, paths of righteousness, soul restoration
Full Transcript
Introduction to Psalm 23
Open your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 23. If you don't have a Bible, there is a pew Bible right in front of you — that's page 401.
Psalm 23, a Psalm of David: "The Lord is my shepherd." We spent the first week unpacking that very first phrase. The Lord — the Creator God of the universe, the One who spoke it into existence, Yahweh — can indeed be *my* shepherd. It is a personal relationship. You and I, as followers of Christ, have an intimate relationship with the Creator of this universe, of this planet, and all that we see around us.
Because we have this relationship with Him, all these other things are true. Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want — I have supply. As we looked at the last two weeks, He will make me lie down in green pastures, meaning He will give me rest. He will lead me beside quiet waters — He will give me refreshment.
Today we look at verse 3: He will restore my soul, and He will guide me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Because the Lord is my shepherd, I will find healing and guidance and purpose. Verse 4: even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death — there will be testing in my life — I will fear no evil, for You, God, are with me. You are my protection. Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. There is hope. You have anointed my head, You have consecrated me, You have set me apart — and consequently my cup overflows. There is abundance. The psalmist then ties this all together in verse 6: "Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, for I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." There will be blessing and security in my life forever.
We have four Sundays before Christmas Eve, so we are going to take a verse a week and finish the psalm right before Christmas. Today we are in verse 3.
The Metaphor of Shepherd and Sheep
Let me remind you of the metaphor David uses — it is important. David would certainly have been familiar with the idea of shepherd and sheep. God is the shepherd, Jesus said He is the good and great shepherd, and we are the sheep. We need to be reminded of this, perhaps over and over again: sheep are defenseless, stubborn, frequently lost, wandering animals who are subject to a mob mentality. A little chihuahua can take a whole flock of sheep and throw them into panic. They are not particularly bright, and they are totally defenseless.
That is the imagery God uses as He describes our relationship with Him. A sheep simply cannot survive on its own. It is essential for the well-being of the sheep that it is in the care of the shepherd. That is the picture He uses. And so what we see in the psalm is this statement: the Lord is our shepherd.
The Value of a Promise
The implication here is that we are sheep. Having sketched that portrait of sheep, the psalmist now gives us a whole series of statements, descriptions, and promises. As I said earlier, because the Lord is my shepherd, all these other things are true. They are promises, and it is important to remember that a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. I can make a promise to you with the most wonderful intentions, and yet, in spite of those intentions, I will frequently fail to keep it.
My friend Larry Wright tells what is, to me, one of the most amazing stories to illustrate this. He met a young man who had come up through his ministry and was getting married, and the young man asked Larry to perform the ceremony. Larry said it would be an honor and a privilege. He saw the young man that Thursday and confirmed, "Are you still on for this?" The man replied, "I'm getting married Sunday afternoon — I'll see you there, don't miss it."
So Larry is at home that Sunday, the kids came over, they started playing games, one thing led to another, and pretty soon it was Sunday night. He thought, "By God, there was something I was supposed to do today." He went and got his book out, and there it was. He had literally made that promise, had every intention of keeping it, and missed the wedding entirely.
We make promises sometimes with no intention of keeping them, but more often we make them and either lack the ability to follow through or circumstances change in ways we did not foresee. You can buy a Ginsu knife with a lifetime warranty, but if you cannot find Joe Ginsu, the warranty is no good. The promises in this psalm, however, are not from any human being. They are not from any entity that suddenly confronts unforeseen circumstances. These are promises from God to you and to me, the sheep.
The Promise of Restoration
Today's promise is a wonderful one: He will restore your soul. He will guide you in the path of righteousness, and He will do it for His name's sake. As you read this, you are struck — as I am — by the fact that there will be times when we need restoration. Are there times when followers of Christ can wander from Him? Times when followers of Christ can feel desperation, despondency, or hurt? Times when we will genuinely need this restoration? Yes. That is exactly why He makes the promise.
Consider the words from Job 30, verse 16: "Now my soul is poured out within me. My days of affliction have seized me. At night it pierces my bone within me, and gnawing pains can take no rest. By great force, my garment is distorted, and it binds me about as the collar of my coat. He's cast me into the mire. I've become like dust. I'm seething within and cannot relax. Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly, and I cry out." Here is Job — a man of deep faith — honestly pouring his heart out before God. The normal Christian life, even for the godliest among us, contains times when we need restoration and healing.
The psalmist describes one such moment in Psalm 42, where he pauses to ask himself a question: "Why so downcast, O my soul?" In the context of the shepherd and sheep, this image of being downcast — or "cast down" — would have been immediately familiar to the original audience.
The Cast Sheep
I confess I know nothing about sheep. I only know how to read, and I am entirely dependent on writers like Phil Keller for what I am about to share. A cast sheep means nothing to me from personal experience, so here is what it is. A cast sheep is one that has rolled over onto its side and ultimately onto its back, and it is completely helpless in that position. There is nothing it can do. On a warm, sunny day it will die within a matter of hours. With some cloud cover and cooler temperatures it may last a couple of days. The only thing that can rescue it is the shepherd coming and righting it.
Phil Keller, writing from his own experience as a shepherd, identifies three conditions that contribute to a sheep becoming cast. The first is too much wool — wool that has gathered mud, burrs, debris, and manure until the weight of it pulls the sheep down. The second is being too fat, so the animal is both weighed down and overweight. The third is finding a soft, comfortable spot. When all of that comes together, the sheep simply gives up the fight, lies down, rolls to its side seeking more comfort, the gases within it begin to accumulate, and it ends up on its back. It will die unless the shepherd intervenes.
Most Vulnerable in Times of Plenty
Keller goes on to draw out the imagery, and it is worth pausing on. You would think a fat, well-fed sheep with a thick fleece would be in the best possible condition — that those would be signs of health and security. Keller observes, however, that we are often most vulnerable in exactly those good times, those seasons of plenty.
I was talking with someone before the first service who shared that their family is involved in missions work in Ukraine. I was asking what they do when they go there — whether they link up with the local church, whether they are free to operate within it.
When Life Gets Hard
No one is exempt from times of being downcast. It does not matter who you are or how well things seem to be going. Some of you may be sitting there thinking, "Not me. You don't understand my life. I've done everything right, and we're not going to face that." Yes, you are. Life is going to come along and throw challenges at you. Satan is going to come at you. The demons are going to come at you. Your own arrogance and pride will kick in, and God is going to say, "This is going to be good for you. You're going on your back for a while."
What happens naturally when circumstances begin to press in is that you almost instinctively become focused on the circumstances themselves. They get bigger and bigger, and you begin to sink further and further. Your tendency is to become very inward focused — what about me, what does this mean for me, how do I get myself out of it? There are a lot of first-person pronouns, and a lot of things that deflect you away from God.
Another thing that happens as decisions become more complex and complicated is that people begin to retreat — from their Christian friends, from small groups, from home groups, from church — at the very times of real need. It becomes a very isolated, unhealthy position to be in. There is fear, anxiety, and isolation, and then the D-word begins to kick in.
The Connection Between Prosperity and Faith
Years ago I made a decision that when this church started, I would also keep doing priority living. I did it for a variety of reasons, but one of the driving forces was this: I think it is important for you to be living out your faith in the marketplace, and I would not ask you to do something I should not or would not do myself. So I have found myself in the marketplace regularly, in contact with a lot of business people — some Christians, many non-Christians — and I love the setting.
In the last month or two, here is what I have been starting to hear. I am starting to hear that things are getting tight, that business is getting tough. I am hearing that the real estate market is in tough shape and does not look like it is going to change, and the same is true for all the ancillary businesses. I am hearing it from automobile dealers. I am hearing it everywhere. Do you know what all of this means? This is really good. This means God is getting ready to do something really special. God begins to remove those things from our path because they become distractions.
Almost instinctively, as things go well, we begin to assume that we bring something to the party — that things are going well because of something intrinsically valuable in us. But apart from Him, we cannot do anything. We could not take our next breath, let alone close a deal or develop a business plan. We are sheep.
This same dynamic was illustrated for me when I was speaking with people who do ministry work in Ukraine. They mentioned something interesting that is happening there right now that is making the sharing of faith a little more difficult. I expected to hear about communist influence or government control. Do you know what it actually is? The economy is getting better. Things are going well. People are not as intrigued or interested with this "God stuff" when things are going well, because they feel they do not really need it now. They put it on the shelf. As Timothy Keller points out, the same thing happens in our own lives.
The Devil's Garage Sale
The story is told that the devil decided to have a garage sale. Taking out all of his finest tools of deception and death, he priced and placed each one on the driveway. They were each marked according to their value. There was hatred, envy, and jealousy, all marked for sale. There was deceit, lust, lying, and pride, all with the appropriate price tags.
But set off by itself, totally removed from the other instruments, was an unassuming, plain-looking tool. It was quite worn — in fact, the most worn of all the tools — and yet it carried the highest price. A customer walked up and began to browse through the tools. He picked this one up, looked it over, and casually asked the devil, "Say, what is the name of this tool?"
With a shrewd sneer, the devil replied, "Ah, my favorite tool. I know it well. It is the tool called discouragement." The customer asked, "Is that high price negotiable?" The devil answered, "No, absolutely not. That tool is more powerful than any of the other tools I have. When I use the tool of discouragement on a person's heart, I can pry that heart open and then use all my other tools. It is the key tool, my most strategic tool. Therefore, it comes at a high price."
The author — Kent Hughes, if I recall correctly — then comments: there is much truth to this little parable. When Satan discourages us and gets us down and defeated, we become easy prey for his hellish host of other tools. What is discouragement? Discouragement is a —
When the Soul Is Downcast
Discouragement is a state of being deprived of confidence and hope. It is being dejected, disheartened, deflated — despondent, despairing, dismayed. And as Tom noted parenthetically, not being able to find any more D-words is itself discouraging.
With that in mind, turn to Psalm 42. David asks a question in verse 11: "Why are you in despair, my soul?" — some translations render it, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? — hope in God, or put your trust in God, for I shall yet find praise in Him, the help of my countenance in my God." The same refrain appears in Psalm 43, verse 5: "Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance in my God."
In these moments where we need healing and restoration, at the core of all of it is a need for hope. So the question becomes: who do you trust? Where do you place your hope?
The Things We Mistakenly Hope In
There is a long list of things people could place their hope in. Take stuff, for instance. You drive around and see storage facilities everywhere. The average house size is now something like 2,400 to 2,600 square feet, whereas twenty years ago it was around 1,600 square feet. So we have 800 to 900 more square feet than we ever had, and yet we still need extra storage — because we have accumulated more things we never actually needed. We thought that if we had that stuff, we would be happy.
Or it may be education. Tom recalled watching something on C-SPAN in which a person had completed an undergraduate degree, then three master's degrees, and two PhDs. There comes a point where the trust is no longer in learning but in the credential itself — the belief that being obviously brilliant will be enough.
Or perhaps the hope is placed in beauty and appearance. There is a whole industry built on the promise that adjusting this or fixing that will bring satisfaction. Or it may be popularity — and it is hard to find anyone who does not want to be liked. Or position: the business card that reads Executive Vice President, Senior Sales Consultant, Founder, and so on. Or pleasure — though Tom noted from personal experience that sometimes having fun becomes so much work that it stops being fun at all.
The Failure of Self-Reliance
Some people place their hope in themselves, buying into the idea that if you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it. That notion simply does not hold up. Most of us are average, and the honest truth is that if we rise up and reach our full potential, we will arrive at average. That applies to most people, and Tom included himself in that equation.
The harder reality is that most of us do not even rise to achieve our full average potential. Which means we are going to disappoint ourselves.
When We Ask People to Be What Only God Can Be
Then there is the hope we place in another person. Tom shared that when he married Susan, they were total opposites — she was sweet, innocent, and naive, and he came from a more worldly background. He married her hoping she would change him. Three months into the marriage, he went to her and said, "I married you to make me happy, and I'm not happy. I think I'm done." She was not happy either, for her own reasons.
It did not take long to realize what had happened. He was asking Susan to be God. He had placed all his hope in her. And Susan, by his own description, is everything a husband could want in a wife — an extraordinary mother, grandmother, and friend. The problem was never Susan. The problem was that he was asking her to do something only God can do.
That is what the Psalm is pointing to. When you are downcast, you do need a person — but that person is Jesus. You need direction, vision, and answers, and that is where you will find your hope. "Why so downcast, O my soul?" Whatever your particular answer to that question is, the Psalm responds: no — put your hope in God. Put your trust in Him. That is where the future becomes clear, in relationship with Him.
Hope in God Restores What Is Lost
One commentator offers this insight: your loneliness diminishes because now you have fellowship with Him and with others; your despair decreases because you have a vision; and your confusion is lifted because you have direction.
That ties naturally into the second part of Psalm 23. "He restores my soul" — and part of that restoration is that "He guides me in paths of righteousness." This does not say that He will suddenly change our circumstances. What it says — and this is the truth Tom has been working to get firmly established — is that He is greater than all the things we do not have, all the things we think we need but do not, and greater still than the things we do have. Placing our hope in God is not a promise that everything around us will shift. It is something far more fundamental than that.
He Restores My Soul
Faith and trust and hope in Him does not guarantee that the cancer will go away. The circumstances may or may not change. But what it does mean is that now I have perspective. I have vision. I see things as God sees them. He climbs right into the midst of these circumstances with me. He is the only shepherd who can take me when I am downcast and get me right back up.
He Directs and Guides His Sheep
When Phil Keller talks about his life as a shepherd, he says the greatest single safeguard a shepherd has in handling his sheep is to keep them on the move. His sheep naturally want to settle into one place, and they will destroy it. They will take the best field and pasture they can find and stay there, eating and eating until it is bare. The biggest challenge for the shepherd is to keep them on the move — to direct them, to guide them.
How does God direct and guide us? Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Paul writes to Timothy and says, "In the last days difficult times will come." Why? Men, women, boys, and girls will be lovers of self, and then all the things that go with that follow from it. Because they are lovers of self, they will be lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, violent, disobedient to parents, unloving, irreconcilable. You see the whole path laid out.
What is the answer to that? What is the answer in the last days when people are lovers of self? How do I impact this world when it looks so confusing? When I am hopeless, where do I find vision, direction, purpose, and guidance?
The Word of God as Our Guide
Verse 16 tells us: "All Scripture is inspired by God." God directs and guides us first by placing people around us who work in our lives and give us direction and help — but that is fallible. He also gives us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that lives within us. So strong is that Spirit that God says there will be times when you are praying and do not even know what to pray for, but the Spirit groans and intercedes for you. Without the Holy Spirit, we will never truly understand Scripture, because a natural man cannot understand spiritual things. But when the Holy Spirit comes into my life, God guides me through this book as the Spirit applies it to my heart.
The Scripture is profitable for four things, and you see them there: teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He'll make your path straight." He will give you direction. Through teaching, there is the right path. Through reproof, there is the wrong path. Through correction, this is how you get back on the right path. Through training in righteousness, this is how you stay on the right path. God is communicating that to us over and over again.
He promises that He will restore my soul and guide me in the path of righteousness, and His guidance in that path is going to come through this book. It really is not that difficult to figure out the Christian life — it is not that tough to understand. It is difficult sometimes to do, though, isn't it? And one of the wonderful gifts God gave us is this book, combined with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Something extraordinarily powerful takes place when the Spirit of God applies the Word of God to the heart and mind of the child of God. Now I know how He wants me to live. Now He directs me.
Instruction That Does Not Let Go
Proverbs chapter 2, verse 10: "Hear, my son, and accept my sayings. I have directed the way of wisdom. I have led you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will not be impeded. If you run, you will not stumble. Take hold of instruction. Don't let go."
There are going to be times in life when we are very confused, especially when we are downcast and have become discouraged. Steve Davis, our staff member who handles counseling, was in the first hour, and I wanted to make sure what I was about to say was right. Most of the counseling we do is really this: pointing people toward the only place they are going to find hope, which is God, and then Him speaking to us through His Word.
Through Priority Living and here at church, the question we receive as much as any other — especially from new people — is whether counseling is available. The answer is yes, and the reason is simple: we all need it. But often what people mean, I think, is some form of worldly advice.
God Said It — That Settles It
God said it. God spoke it. And that makes it true. Remember the old bumper sticker: "God said it. I believe it. That settles it." Every time we use that, we say the ink in the middle is wasted. It should simply read: "God said it. That settles it." There are a whole lot of people who do not believe that Jesus is the only way. That does not mean it is not true. And in the world we are living in — I spend a lot of time in bookstores — the sections that keep getting bigger and bigger are the self-help sections.
When Discouragement Hits
There is a section at a bookstore called Speculation. Why would anyone want to buy a book that speculates, especially when you can get one you know is true? God is not angry that we get discouraged. That happens to everyone. Sometimes there is reason for it, sometimes there isn't, and sometimes it is simply life.
My first Christmas in Phoenix was 1975. I was not a Christian, which certainly was part of it. I had moved down on Labor Day, didn't know one soul, didn't have a job, didn't have anything. Around December 15th or 16th, I was driving over the Mill Street Bridge, and there were all these palm trees with Christmas lights on them. I thought, what have I done? I got so discouraged. I pulled into Monty's parking lot, and just as I pulled in, Elvis came on the radio singing "I'll Have a Blue Christmas." It all lined up.
Placing Our Hope in Him
What do you do when you're blue? Or what do you do when it's far more serious than that, and circumstances come crashing around you, and there is real hurt and real pain for real reasons? The answer is: trust in Him. For me, that means wanting Him to speak to me — God, I want to hear from You.
I watch television and hear people say, "God said to me this morning, do this, this, and this." I have never heard God speak to me in an audible voice. I may not be spiritual enough, but that has not been my experience. What I have had is God speaking to me regularly through His Word, saying things like, "Don't do this."
Here is one of the things He says: do not be afraid. God doesn't just have your backside. He's got your frontside, your sideside, and your upside. He is all around you.
The Word That Restores and Guides
For some people, discouragement is a deep and serious struggle, and there are times we need to come alongside one another with love and encouragement. But ultimately the answer is to put our hope in Him. It doesn't mean the circumstances will change, but it is a reminder that He is in control.
The Bible tells us what's right, what's not right, how to get right, and how to stay right. Scripture provides teaching, reproof, and correction. That word "correction" — the only time we see it in the New Testament — means to restore something to its proper position. If something were lying on the ground, this word would mean to set it right back up.
David writes, "The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want." Our verse today is, "He restores my soul, and He guides me." Max Lucado writes this, and it is so good: God is never wrong. He has never rendered a wrong decision, experienced a wrong attitude, taken a wrong path, said the wrong thing, or acted the wrong way. He has never been too late or too early, too loud or too soft, too fast or too slow. He has always been and always will be right. He is righteous. He is God.
He guides us. He tells us what is right. And then He does something beyond that — He gives us the power to walk down that path in His grace and His mercy.
A Word to Take With You
If you run into someone out Christmas shopping and they ask what was said today, here is the message: even as followers of Christ, there are going to be times of real difficulty. Some of it will be the result of our own behavior, and some of it will simply be life. In those times, we will need restoration, and the Good Shepherd is the only place to put our hope and trust. We can find everything we need to know and understand how to respond in His Word.
What a shame to have a tool and never use it. God has given us the tool of His Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and He says, all you need to do is ask for wisdom and He will give it to you. All you need to do is come to Him dependently, and He will give you hope.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this truth. Thank You for Your Word. God, in this life, even though You provide rest and refreshment, there are times when life is such that we desperately need healing — physical, spiritual, emotional — and You restore our soul, and You will guide us. God, that is what we pray.
We pray that as we move into this time of prayer and communion, You would be the One who restores us. For those who are really hurting and desperately needing a touch from You, God, I pray that they would receive it today — maybe through the prayer of another, maybe through a gentle touch. Maybe we need chastisement and correction. God, if that is the case, we ask that You would reprove us and rebuke us, not to take away our hope, but to remind us that we are totally dependent upon You, and that apart from You there is not one single thing we can do.
God, thank You that You will guide us — all of it for one reason. Not for our name, not for our glory, but for Yours. All of this for Your namesake. We pray to You in Christ's name. Amen.
An Invitation to Prayer
If you feel drawn to come forward and have someone pray with you, but find yourself held back by embarrassment, I understand that completely. People say they don't know what others will think. I'll tell you what I hope they think. I hope they think that we are needy people, that we need each other, and that we need prayer.
Just this morning, before the first service, a lady stopped me and said, "Will you pray with me? I'm going in for a breast biopsy tomorrow." That story can be told a thousand times in this body. We are here to pray for you. There will be some people at the front — elders and staff — and we will be here to pray with you.
I'd invite you to pray with each other, and we'll take that time together. In a couple of minutes I'll prompt the team, they'll bring us the elements, and you can celebrate communion. There is no better reminder of our dependence upon Him than that — a reminder that Christ came and died so that we could have eternal life. You can celebrate that at communion. Then Gary, at the appropriate time, will come and close our time of worshiping the Lord through song.
Praying for One Another and for Our Community
If you're inclined and comfortable, grab a friend or two. Come together in prayer for a variety of things. Certainly be praying for the church, and be praying for the community we live in — that God would use us, East Valley Bible Church, in a significant way to touch this community.
I really wonder, if we closed this place down tomorrow and went away, whether Gilbert would even care. My sense is probably not. And it seems to me they should care — which means that is one more area for us to be concerned about. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for your family. Pray for all the things that God puts on your heart.
If you would like someone to pray with you personally, there will be people up at the front. I will be here, along with others, and we would love to pray with you. In a minute or two I'll cue the team and we'll bring the communion elements down. So let's go ahead and pray together.