September 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"He restores my soul" (Ps. 23:3).

Devotional

First, consider the love of the Lord Jesus in restoring a wandering believer. Nothing except infinite, tender, unchanging love could prompt him to such an act. There is so much gloomy ingratitude and deep wickedness in the sin of a believer's departure from the Lord, that—except for the nature of Christ's love—there could be no possible hope of his return.

Now this costly love of Christ is above all seen in his taking the first step in restoring the soul. The first advance is on the part of the Lord. There is no more self-recovery after conversion than there is before. It is entirely the Lord's work. The same state of mind, the same principle, that led to the first step in drifting from God, leads on to each successive one; until—except for restraining and restoring grace—the soul would take an everlasting farewell of God. But note the expression of David—"He restores my soul." Who? He of whom the first verse identifies as his Shepherd—"The Lord is my Shepherd." It is the Good Shepherd who takes the first step to recover the wandering sheep.

If there is one aspect of this subject more stirring than any other, it is this—that such should be the tender, unchanging love of Jesus towards his wandering child that he should take the first step in restoring him. Shall an offended, insulted Sovereign make the first move toward conciliating a rebellious people?—that Sovereign is Jesus! Shall an outraged Father seek his wandering child, to restore him to his affections and his house?—that Father is God!

Oh, what love it is that leads Jesus to search for his wandering child!—love that will not let him quite depart; love that yearns and seeks after him; love that pursues him through all his devious way, his convoluted wanderings, his distant departures; love that no unkindness has been able to cool, no forgetfulness has been able to weaken, no distance has been able to destroy!

No less conspicuous is the power of Jesus in restoring the soul. "He restores my soul,"—he, the omnipotent Shepherd. We need omnipotence to bring us back when we have wandered. Nothing less can accomplish it. We need the same power that converted to re-convert. We need the power that created, to re-create us. And this is the power that Jesus possesses. It was essential to the full salvation of his church that he should have it. Therefore, when praying to his Father, he says, "You have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him" (John 17:2). It was necessary that he should have power over all flesh, yes, over all the powers leagued against the church, that he should bring to glory all who were given to him in the covenant of grace.

Now this power is gloriously exerted in restoring the soul. Jesus works in the believer, in order to effect his recovery. He breaks down the hard heart, arrests the soul in its onward progress of departure, places upon it some powerful restraint, lays it low, humbles it, and then draws from it the blessed confession, "Behold, I am vile; but he restores my soul."

The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want;
he makes me down to lie
in pastures green; he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again;
and me to walk doth make
within the paths of righteousness,
e'en for his own Name's sake.

Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,
yet will I fear none ill,
for thou art with me; and thy rod
and staff me comfort still.

My table thou hast furnished
in presence of my foes;
my head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me:
and in God's house for evermore
my dwelling place shall be.

(Scottish Psalter, 1650)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.