Worship

Scripture

The word soul shows up regularly in popular culture.

Soul mate.  Soul food.  I love you mind, body, and soul.  Soul music.   

The connotation for these uses suggests a spiritual component of being that is deeper and more personal than the outer flesh.  But in our readings in Psalms, it’s apparent that no one understood more about soul than the psalmist.  Throughout this magnificent book of hymns, the psalmist reveals his soul as an inner spiritual force that functions sometimes as an intermediary, other times as a helpmate to aid his flesh in sorting out difficulty.

Check out the following passage from today’s reading, where the psalmist begins speaking to himself.  

I will say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

But in the next verse, the speaker changes audience, directly addressing his soul:  

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Immediately after interrogating his soul, though, the psalmist seemingly comes to his senses.  So with authority and resolve, without even waiting for the soul to respond to the question he posed with such urgency, he practically blurts out the answer:

[You, my soul], hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him.

Let’s paraphrase the poetic form of the psalmist into informal language to understand what happens in this passage:

“Darn it, soul, why are you so miserable?  Why am I so miserable?  Man, you’re getting me down!  Can’t you just get over it?   I mean, really, all you really need to do—wait, all WE need to do, you and me both— is HOPE IN GOD!  So that’s what I’m going to do, misery or not!  Are you with me?”

This exercise helps us see that soul in biblical hymns and literature is not just a frilly poetic ornament.  Our soul should enrich our devotional life, and  we can learn much from the psalmist about getting in touch with this powerful component of our being as a spiritual tool for prayer and devotion.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me!”

Prayer

HONOR GOD

ASK GOD

What do you need to ask God today? What’s on your heart?

SUBMIT TO GOD