The church is not made up of perfect people. You will often hear unbeliver’s say “I’m not going there they are a bunch of hypocrites.” Christians are ordinary people like you and I, they make mistakes, they fail, they sin, they need healing and forgiveness. They go cold and slip away from their first love. But they know they need to get back to the Lord, they need to get their lives right, they need restored. When a local church fails God or the Church worldwide strays from God, then they need restored, renewed, revived. The Renewal movements in church history verify the need of revival and renewal. The Reformation was such a restoration to Biblical faith and objected to the doctrines and non-Biblical concepts that crept in to cause spiritual darkness. There were pre and post Reformation restorations or revivals. It is the process of restoration of spiritual strength and vigour that comes after the new birth. It involves getting back to the centrality of Scripture, prayer, a personal move of the Holy Spirit that awakens the soul, a desire to meet with Gods people. Often joy is overwhelming and many times new hymns or spiritual songs are written. Sometimes the believers mind needs “renewed in the spirit of the mind” (Eph. 4:23 that is the mental faculties that have been affected by sin or neglect of following God and his Word, they are renewed, reinvigorated which affects the conduct for good. Paul says the new man is in constant need of renewal, “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col.3:10).

God’s people clearly disobey him at times. Great men and women in the Bible failed at one time or other, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David. They knew they sinned but they also knew they need to get right with God and receive his healing and forgiveness, because they had damaged their soul. Christians are not perfect we don’t live in an ivory tower nor should we want to continue in sin but sometimes we fail. We are not obsessed with sin, our focus is with the Saviour. The Christian tries to be real and authentic and will deal with sin. He finds it difficult to walk in sin, he comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 130 verse 3, “If Thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

Jacob refused submission to God at home and submitted to his uncle Laban in Haran, in a far country. His uncle deceived him and he had to work hard seven years and the night of the wedding Laban brought in his veiled daughter but it wasn’t Rachael it was her sister. Just as Jacob had deceived his father it was now a case you reap what you sow. He kept getting into difficulties until he came back to Bethel, the fold. The children of Israel “provoked the Lord to wrath” because they longed for, “the fish… the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks and garlic, the onions” of Egypt. His anger rose against them and the wandered in the wilderness for almost 40 years, because of their moaning, complaining and waywardness, the wandered away like lost sheep. He discipline’s an individual or eve a group or a church, “I have heard Ephriam grieving, You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored”, He had wandered away. God disciplines because he acts as a Father who loves us. He disciplines us for our good. God does not punish us for our sins in a legal sense, He done that at Calvary. The chastisements he brings upon His people are to be understood as loving corrections of a loving and tender hearted father. “He restoreth my soul” there are two Hebrew words in the text. The word for soul, nephesh the soul, and the word for restore, shuwb breath or wind and describe the spirit. The two words describe our life. That living personality, you and me.

When Do You Need Restored?

“He restoreth my soul” It is the individual person that first need revived. There are two Hebrew words in the text. The word for soul, nephesh the soul, and the word for restore, shuwb breath or wind and describe the spirit. The two words describe our life. That living personality, you and me.

You need restored when you backslide. When you loose your first love. You follow your own ways. The one who stops walking with the Lord feels the absence most keenly. You tend to follow a far way off and that leaves the sheep in greater danger than those who stay close to the shepherd. You loose your joy, you do not want to talk about Jesus. You can fall into a snare or be attacked by enemies.

Your need restored when you “…conform to the pattern of this world” then you need to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Rom. 12:2). That is when you model your thinking upon the culture of the world around you. You slip into the worlds thinking, ideas, philosophies. Your mind needs renewed, not by thinking about religious thing or Christian subjects but by thinking the way God thinks.

Your need restored when you when you turn to secular thinking or humanism and its philosophies for your answer. When you chase success and position rather than pursuing the things of the Spirit. .

You need restored when your hope goes and your conscience accuses you. You need revived.

You need restored when your when you become cold and start complaining and you stop meeting with the Lords people, you start complaining about the Church, about others, you become restless and unhappy, dissatisfied and discontented. You find fault with everybody.

You need restored when your when you live for materialism. You become a material girl or man. You live for things. You want all that this world can give. You stop seeking first the kingdom of heaven.

Your need restored when you when something or someone else takes the place of the Lord. Your need restored when you when things like material possessions, people, hobbies, job, education or anything that take you away from the Good Shepherd, you need restored.

When you neglect the Word of God and prayer. You begin to think the way the world thinks, you take on their philosophies. You stop thinking like God. You frequent places you shouldn’t and live like the unsaved. The soul becomes weak, confused and agitated.

Your need restored when you when pleasures, sport, music, movies, TV, and entertainment come before God and the assembling together with the Church.

He Restores My Soul

He – refers to the Lord God almighty who restore the soul.

Restores

Everyone knows the meaning of restoration. Sometime marriages need restored, relationships with other people need restored. You can restore an old dilapidated house, or a car, or a piece of furniture a broken down bike to their former glory. After a serious illness or surgery and the pain subsides and the body healed we are fully restored. It is a wonderful thing. You were restored to health. When the soul is not functioning right, when we are sick in the soul, God restores the souls of His people. He restored the soul to spiritual life when you get right with Him. But because we are not yet perfect and we fail and sin it affects the soul in a negative way Only God knows what our souls need for restoration.

The verb “restores” (used about 1,060 times in the Old Testament) can mean “converting,” Psalm 19:7 “law of Jehovah”, “reviving” or “transforming. The soul (life) is “refreshed” by God. It is a movement back to the point of departure to its former condition. In Hosea 14:4, the Lord promises: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him”, it implies a healing. The soul is damaged, the emotions, the mental well-being, the state of mind. It can bring frustration, sadness, regret, mental unrest, worry, guilt, fear. There is worry, guilt, regret, sadness, unrest, frustration, and fear, sin has many children. The soul is damaged by sin, the mind and the emotions are damaged and need healing, or restored. God can restore us, renew us, make us whole again, he is the Good Shepherd (cf. John 10:11, 14). He can give back “the years the canker worm has eaten.”

Soul

In the Hebrew Bible the term “soul” is nephesh (756 times). The word can refer to “life” (Genesis 1:30), or simply the “person” (Deuteronomy 10:22). It’s the immaterial part of a human that is more precious than gold or silver or the whole world Jesus said. Human beings have a sprit but it is dead towards God. When a person is regenerated, or born again, they become spiritually alive towards God. They can now fellowship with Him, commune with Him, understand His word, enjoy Him and sin forgiven. When they sin they are temporarily out of fellowship with God. That’s when they need restored or refreshed or revived. Materialists, atheists, deny man has a soul. “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Say it is an illustration.

The body is made of “dust” (Genesis 2:7); the soul resides inside the body and is very precious (Matthew 10:28) man is made in the image of God himself (Genesis 1:26-27).

King David’s Responses to His Sin and His Restoration Ps 51

David’s Responses to His Sin

Psalm 51 and 32 David strayed from the path. He sinned with Bathsheba he had deep inner guilt. He became depressed, in mental turmoil, physically ill. and could not live with himself and went away from the Lord. He could not go on in his life until he confessed it. He became depressed, in mental turmoil, physically ill. Then he could ask for the joy to be restored to his soul. He cried in another place, “Why art thy cast down within me O my soul? Awake ye and praise the Lord”. The soul, the psyche the real person was affected by sin, it also had a psychosomatic effect upon his body, he became ill. The Christian today confesses his sin, “If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin” 1 John 1:9. Christians deal with sin.

He Turns to God
He Prays for Cleansing
He Confesses the Seriousness of His Sin 3-5,
He Pleads for Renewal 6-12

There are times when a believer will be disciplined. David “slid” backwards on occasions, and when he did, his soul was plunged into distress (cf. Psalm 32; 51). He needed restored, or “converted,” “revived” or “transformed” or “healed.” Unconfessed sin is a terrible burden to bear and God loves His children too much to allow unconfessed sin in their lives. The hand that disciplines is the same hand that forgives and protects. Confess it now and thank God for His forgiveness and protecting hand of grace.

King David’s life was multiplied with trouble after he sinned with Bathsheba. He faced many dark and difficult times in his life. Many of his problems came from his enemies but some came from himself. The Psalms can be a source of encouragement when we are depressed, discouraged, tired, weary, whatever the dark time may be. The men and women of Bible times give us many examples of restoration.

Sin, trials, pressures, discouragement and tribulation can have a detrimental effect on the soul. David sinned and lost the joy, “restore unto me the joy of my salvation,” the word restore is that of Psalm 23:3, “He restores my soul.” How can God restore your soul?

When you sin you lose your peace of mind and have a guilty conscience this can have a psychosomatic effect and cause physical suffering. So it affects our physical health. The body “soma” (bodily) is affected by the soul.

Sin can cause some illnesses. There are numerous reasons for illness, birth defects, diseases and physical defects that are not from personal sin. The blind man who Jesus had not sinned nor his parents, Timothy had not sinned, Job had not sinned. We must be careful of passing judgment. Davids physical and mental condition were clearly an effect of his personal sin.

1. He Turns to God

Vs 1-2 The first thing David stared with was God, who He was, how He revealed Himself, His revelation of man, the world and sin. He cried for mercy based upon God’s loving kindness and tender mercies and ability to forgive. He starts thinking right. He knew he needed to be washed and cleansed because sin it was destroying his soul and his relationship with God and it will destroy yours. It will affect the child of God spiritually and will make him feel dirty and unclean. Sin deserves judgment asks for mercy and needs cleansing.

2. He Prays for Cleansing

“Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Wash me. The child of God is like a sheep they may fall into mud puddle but will get out as soon as possible. A child of the devil loves the mud and he will roll about in it and wants to stay there. David took responsibility for his own actions. He did not blame Bathsheba, he did not blame his upbringing, he did not blame his environment, he did not blame Satan. He took another man’s wife and made her pregnant and sent the husband to the front of the battle to be killed. It was a heinous sin. He was a hypocrite and had the audacity to give the man a military funeral and then marry his pregnant wife. His sin dogged him, he was obsessed with it and had no peace and lost his joy, it would affect him the rest of his life. He can’t get it out of his mind. He can’t get it out of the thoughts that run through his head night and day. His mental, psychological and physical state was in a mess. Sin has made him dirty, and he asks to be clean. Guilt has made him physically sick, and he asks to be healed.

3. He can’t get his sin out of his mind and confesses it.

Vs 3 Psychosomatic effects. It Affects Us Mentally.

It troubles you mentally and you cannot get it out of your mind. It affects your thinking process, causes mental problems, put you on edge, you loose your peace and thought life. Before you were a Christian you could sin all day and it did not affect you. For the a child of God says, “My sin is ever before me”. To let it continue un-confessed will bring turmoil and misery, few people want to be around you. I’ve done it against You, the only God. I have sinned.

It Affects Our Conscience v4

Vs 4 “Against you you only have I sinned.” David is conscience stricken. He realized that his sin was against God, then his wife, Bathsheba, Uriah, himself, his kingdom. His relationship with God was broken His sin has created a barrier between he and God. God saw his sin, “in thy sight.”

Vs. 5 He knows he was born a sinner.

Vs. 6. “Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. And in the hidden.” God is interested with what goes on in our hearts. Scripture says, “The heart of man is deceitful and above all things desperately wicked.”

4. He Pleads for Renewal

Gods Power to Cleanse

Vs 7 “Wash me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Sin Affects Us Physically v8

verse 8. “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.” Shepherds used to break the legs of wayward sheep to teach them not to wander then he would set it, and then he’d have to carry that little sheep, and it would learn to trust him. When the leg healed he’d set the little sheep on the ground and it followed the shepherd everywhere.

David was an unhappy man. He couldn’t lose his salvation but he could and did lose the joy of his salvation. Christians today who have no joy in their lives have hearts that have been saddened by sin. Sin and lack of joy are inseparable just as purity and joy are inseparable.

God’s hand was so heavily upon David that he felt crushed, it affected his body. Many people suffer physically because of sin. Psychosomatic illness – means that the mind can make the body sick. (1 Cor 11:30) “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”. The cause was SIN!

Sin will cause us to suffer it will dry your spirit up, Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth the bones”

Vs 9 Sin blots out the face of God. You set up a barrier between you and Him.

Sin Affects Our Hearts vs 10

verse 10. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” His desire is a new start. I want a new attitude, new heart.” It affects the mind, the thinking. When you sin you loose your peace of mind and have a guilty conscience this can have a psychosomatic effect and cause physical suffering. So it effects our physical health. The body “soma” (bodily) is affected by the soul.

God knows our lives, he knows everything about us, so he knows when we need restoration.

God’s Word can restore our soul and giving us hope in times of distress. We read of forgiveness there, of comfort and renewal. It is only the soul of the Christian that can be restored to its former relationship with God.

God restores even when there seems no way out of your situation or the mess you have gotten into.

The word hints of the damage that sin can do to the soul, or as we might express it, to the “psyche,” the emotions, one’s mental state of well-being. In this regard we cannot but think of such mental turbulence as worry, guilt, regret, sadness, unrest, frustration, and fear.

Sin can cause some illnesses. Jesus healed a crippled man and implied that his condition had been a result of sin in his life. “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” John 5:14 Again, in 1Cor 11:30 speaking of people taking communion unworthily, not taking the time to examine ourselves and truly repent of our sins first … “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (sleep = die).

There are numerous reasons for illness, birth defects, diseases and physical defects that are not from personal sin. The blind man who Jesus had not sinned nor his parents, Timothy had not sinned, Job had not sinned. We must be careful of passing judgment.

The Joy Restored.

“Verse 12: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” “What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record. Ps. 32:1.

When we do what David done then we thank God again for the Cross, for the wonders of heaven and for the Gospel. In the midst of a world of suffering and pain we can have an inner joy. All around us people have heartache. There is much illness and death. Christians need inner joy in the midst of such sorrow. In the midst of the pain we can know the joy of God and have the assurance that He is in control. We know that Jesus is coming for his own and we will receive a new body and live with him forever, pain free. We have a balanced mind and are thoughtful to the suffering, and grieve but not without hope. We thank God for a bright future. For the Cross, for the wonders of heaven and for the Gospel. The blessing of God’s joy (32:10-11). He prays for the joy of God’s salvation and for a spirit that is joyfully willing to follow God’s word and be kind with people. It is like heaven again.

Vs 13. “…then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted to You.” He begins to witness again. Most Christians don’t witness because of sin in their lives.

14. “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.”

Vs 15 “O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

Then you have the joy back and can speak of His salvation. The Lord renews and refreshes you. He fellowships with you. Your relationship is restored. You remember your first love. You witness again.

16. “O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, else would I give it; You do not delight in burnt-offering.”