Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”
Our Bible verse for today: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 84:2 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Your soul yearns for intimacy with God.”
The fact that each human being has a soul is virtually indisputable. Even atheists have to acknowledge that there is something unique within a human being which makes our life form distinctly different from other forms of life. That thing is the soul. It is the breath of life that God breathed into us.
And, the fact that the soul yearns for God is also indisputable. Deep within each person there is an innate sense that there is something more than just this mortal life – there is a spiritual dimension, there is a God, and there is an afterlife – intuitively we know this to be true. That’s why every civilization that has ever existed has always had notions of an afterlife and of spirits and of gods, and it is why every civilization has always had forms of worship and religious rituals.
The great fourth century Christian theologian Saint Augustine famously wrote about this: “You have created us for yourself, oh God, and our hearts are restless, searching, until we find our rest in thee.” The 16th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal expressed it like this: “There is a God-shaped vacuum within the heart of man that can only be filled by God.”
The problem for many of us modern Christians is that we don’t follow the yearning of our soul. While the soul is reaching out for God, longing for more time with Him, desperate for deeper fellowship and richer and more meaningful interaction with him, our mortal bodies are driving us to frenzies of activity and distraction. The result is a soul which is hungry and thirsty, unfulfilled and dissatisfied.
The answer is time – time spent with God; sacred time that belongs to God and to Him alone; time that is protected and which nothing else is allowed to intrude upon. Your soul needs this. We will explore this idea in much greater depth in future devotionals but for now, for a deeper teaching on this subject, please read my article “”Room for the Singing of Angels”. You can download a free copy of it on my website at http://www.JimMersereauBooks.com.
God Bless,
Oak Hill Baptist Church 