Recovery Time
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: Recovery Time--------------------------------------- Date: 05/24/2000
Keywords:
"path" "restore" "righteousness"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual
temptation.
Today we continue looking at one of the most-often
memorized and recited passage of the Old Testament. There's a reason it is so well-used --
it never wears out! Let's take a fresh look and see what it has to say to us in the face
of today's pressures and strains. We'll look at verse 3 today.
Passage: Psalm 23:1-6*
1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet
waters,
3. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for
his name's sake.
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You
anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Questions
1. Whose job is restoration of the soul?
2. What is the reason for righteousness?
3. What path are you on?
Practical help
In Verse 2 we considered the importance of rest. Today we see that a
result of rest is restoration. Our bodies need rest in order to heal the normal damage
that occurs due to use. They also need rest much more obviously when we are sick or
injured. The same is true of our souls. Times of rest, of quietness, are essential for God
to enter past the barriers of busyness and to heal the everyday wounds as well as the deep
injuries that threaten to undo us. If your life is typified by unchecked activity and it
seems like you're a whirlwind from dawn to dusk, maybe you should take stock of where that
leaves you with respect to your spiritual life. If you don't make time with God, you'll
miss out on some opportunities for healing.
The second part of Verse 3 provides the essential ingredient for
righteousness -- to walk in that path you must have a purpose, and the purpose is the name
of Jesus. It is not enough to strive for righteousness because it seems like a good thing
to do. That motivation may sustain you for awhile, but eventually it will lose its impact
and the balance will tip toward those things that are not of God, and that are attractive
because they feel good -- like pornography. Keep in mind that you have an honorable cause
to uphold, something that is greater than all that you are, and more significant than your
urges and yearnings.
Why do the sheep follow when the Lord leads along the path? It is because they know and
trust the one to whom they belong. Jesus said in John 10:14: "I know my sheep and my
sheep know me -- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." Get to know your
shepherd by spending time at rest, in communion with him, reading the Word, praying,
worshiping, and meditating.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.