“God is the master architect of the complicated, confusing, and even contradictory constructs that we call our souls.”- Judah Smith
Pastor Judah Smith concludes Chapter 3 of How’s Your Soul? by noting that perhaps our souls surprise us- but they don’t surprise God. The up-and-down tendencies of our hearts fail to shock or scandalize Him.
Thus, since God, the master architect, designed our souls, logic dictates He knows how to realign our souls. Yet, embarrassed by our emotions and totally freaked out by our feelings, we often avoid the One who best knows our souls.
As a result, we resort to our own devices to fix our souls. However, as Judah observes, usually the results are underwhelming. It’s really quite difficult to feel better just because we want to. Complicated and even subversive emotions make it hard for our souls to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
This, in turn, often leads to discouragement. And that discouragement begets more discouragement. The whole thing self-perpetuates.
Hence, Pastor Smith discusses two things that stand out in the psalmist’s journey (Psalms 42 and 43):
- The psalmist willingly questions his feelings. He seeks to discover the source of his discouragement. Therefore, to establish inner health we must question our souls and our feelings. Inner fulfillment, peace, joy, and health often result when we do the exact opposite of what we’re feeling at the time.
- Hope in God. Essentially, the psalmist presents two options: (a) life is meaningless, existence irrelevant or (b) God provides our only hope. Most noteworthy, although our souls may surprise us, they don’t surprise God. Even though our feelings come and go, God remains the same. It’s only a matter of time until we praise Him again.
God provides the anchor for your soul- Jesus.
Today’s question: What Bible verses help secure your hope in God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Four inches from capsizing”
