Spiritual Restoration (Psalm 23:3)

The word translated restoration here can be rendered in different ways, which means it can have a variety of meanings. Apparently, the word was used to describe the recovery that is connected to repentance and it was often even used to describe a sinner’s initial conversion. The believer’s initial repentance is not the meaning in the psalm, yet that possible translation is a reminder that the Christian life usually begins with repentance, and thereafter becomes a life of repentance.

Repentance

Repentance for our sins is often assumed to be a sign of weakness whereas in reality it is a sign of wisdom. It reveals that something precious has taken place in a person’s heart, which is that the God of grace has shown the individual his or her spiritual condition. But he has revealed the sin in such a manner that makes the individual focus on the Shepherd. Repentance takes place in the light of the cross. Although it was a dark place when Jesus literally suffered there, it is a place of great brightness when we go there to repent of our sins and mourn over the One who was pierced for them.

Repentance is a reminder that Christianity is a religion that moves our feelings. I have heard some people say that we should ignore our feelings, and that advice is good if it is concerned with feelings that are contrary to the gospel. But it is not good advice if it waters down feelings that are appropriate to the gospel. It is very appropriate for repentance to come from a broken heart. In fact, it is the only kind of heart where it can be found.

The best place to express our repentance is in the presence of the Shepherd. Is this not what the woman who was a sinner did when she wept at his feet and wiped them with her hair? The description ‘a woman who was a sinner’ is very apt because she is not a sinner now. Instead she is in heaven, having being made perfect in holiness. Yet her journey there commenced when she wept at the feet of Jesus. And that is where we should often want to be.

Repentance is not confined to the start of the pathway, nor is conversion limited to the first moment of faith. Remember what Jesus said to Peter when he warned him of his imminent fall: ‘And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers’ (Luke 22:32). When did Peter’s turning again commence? We know the story about how he had denied Jesus three times, and how the Lord turned and looked at Peter when he did so. There were many people in that room at that time, but Jesus was looking only at one person. What was the effect? Peter went away and wept bitterly.

What is going to make us repent as Christians? It does not really happen until we realise that the Lord is looking at us. We can try and get the opinions of others in order to water down our perception of the sinfulness of our actions, but that response is of no spiritual value. We may even resort to some kind of resolution in which we imagine that we can avoid repeating the wrong action on the future. But there is no restoration in a spiritual sense until we sense that the eyes of Jesus are on us, that he is looking at us committing our sins, and when we recall that is the case we will weep for our sins because our hard hearts will be melted.

Other reasons for restoration

One of the problems of modern life is that some people are unwilling to face up to their problems and pretend that they do not have any. The outcome of that attitude is that those who adopt don’t experience the remedies that are available. We have all heard of individuals who imagined they did not have a disease, so instead of experiencing a cure they suffered from their disease. Something similar can happen in the spiritual life as well. It is obvious that David did not share that outlook because he delights to affirm that he was experiencing restoration, which means that he recognised that he had need of it.

The question arises, ‘In what circumstances would a follower of the Shepherd need restoration?’ In a literal sense, a sheep could experience several circumstances when it would require restoration by its shepherd. There would be times of tiredness after walking about all day; there would be times of tension within the flock when one or more of them were intent on butting the others; there would be times when it would be terrified because wild animals were in the vicinity, perhaps making loud noises that indicated their presence; there would be times when it might experience being torn in a minor way by those animals; there would be times when it would become thin if it had not received enough provision, and there would be times when the best grass would be tasteless because the sheep was not well. We can use those suggested situations to think about how we can find ourselves in need of restoration, because they are very common spiritually.

Tiredness is a normal Christian experience, and it can be caused by good activities and by pointless activities. In fact, if we do not experience spiritual tiredness, it is an indication that we are not engaged in spiritual activities. For example, prayer is a tough discipline if persisted in, as is any ongoing act of service for the Lord. Jesus recognised that his disciples were tired physically after they had returned from a mission trip walking around Palestine. We can read in the psalms what many of the authors felt as they went through experiences that drained them spiritually. Those are good kinds of activities that cause tiredness. In contrast, we can exhaust ourselves doing things that are of no benefit spiritually. They could be anything, they could be quite varied, and often they are not necessarily wrong in themselves. But constant involvement in neutral activities will bring about spiritual tiredness because we are not feeding our souls with what they really need.

Tension in a close knit community can result in disappointments. When we lived in Harris, there was a flock of sheep feeding round the manse and watching them made me realise that nice and gentle were not always accurate descriptions of them. Often one or two of them would head butt one another or whichever sheep were nearby, and while it was not possible to discover why they did it, there did not seem to be an obvious reason. In the end, I assumed that they were narky, disagreeable sheep. The inevitable result was uncertainty and restlessness among the other sheep. Something worse happens when members of the flock of Christ engage in such antics. Tension is the inevitable consequence of such behaviour. And both those disputing with one another and the others they affect need to be restored.

Fear of predators obviously causes a sense of trepidation among sheep, probably because they sense that there is not much they can do about it. Peter reminds his readers that the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Of course, Peter was speaking from experience. Why does a lion make a noise? To petrify the victim and make it aware of its weakness and inabilities. It cannot even run away properly. The devil roars at us with threats of persecution and with temptations to sin. As we endure such things, spiritual exhaustion comes along and we find ourselves without strength and almost about to give up.

Tastelessness is a serious sign as far as a sheep of Christ is concerned. When a believer loses relish for the Word of God, there is something wrong with his appetite. The Bible is mainly about salvation and about communion with the Lord. It is not a history book to be compared with other ancient texts, that is a spiritually useless activity. Instead it has been provided by God as the source of our nourishment and our use of it is a clear indicator of our spiritual health. When did we last find a place where we could go to be alone with Jesus in his Word? Or have we become in need of refreshment?

Another cause of the need of refreshment is connected to how we use our ability to talk to the Lord. It is not so much about what we do say, but about what we do not say. One of the kindest things that the Holy Spirit can do for us is point out aspects of our lives where we are sinning. We recognise that he has shown us, but what do we do with that knowledge? Do we leave it as unconfessed sin? There are times when we have to confess sins to another person if we have sinned against him or her, and if we refuse to do so, there will be no progress. Keeping silent when we should speak is not a spiritual response. Even when we have no reason to confess our sins to another person, we always have to confess our sins to God, especially when he has convicted us of them. The author of this psalm knew by sad experience what happened when he did not confess his sins to God, and we can read about that period in his life in Psalm 32.

No doubt, there are other reasons for finding ourselves in need of restoration. But we can reflect briefly on how the refreshment comes and what are its effects.

The Shepherd’s refreshment

The great blessing is that there is a restorer of the soul. This is one of the Saviour’s activities. We have already mentioned what he did for Peter when he was backsliding. In addition to Peter, there is the way Jesus interacted with all the disciples when he met them after his resurrection after they had failed him when he was arrested. Or we can even consider the ways he spoke to the members of the seven churches of Asia who had turned away from him (Rev. 2-3).

It is obvious that when the Lord restores one of his people, he uses providence and his means of grace to bring about spiritual recovery. Providence covers all of life and it may mean that God will let the person become hard in a spiritual sense, which is what he did with the author of this psalm when he committed adultery and followed it with murder. The fact that David seemed to get away with his plans initially was not proof that he was in a right state with God.

If I choose to wander away from God, I should not imagine he will not work in providence to bring me back. This experience may be very costly because he might remove the means by which I am departing from him. For example, if I am using my income to practice sinful behaviour, I may lose my work. Sometimes he may use illness. At other times, he may bring various disappointments. My plans may be disrupted. After all, everything is in his hands for him to use to restore the souls of his people. The fact is, as Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent’ (Rev. 3:19).

Of course, as we noticed, not all causes of dryness are connected to personal sinfulness. In such situations, the Lord can use a whole range of providences to help restore his people. It may be an unexpected message from Christian friend whom we have not seen for years. It could be through reading a book. It could be through taking a break and spending time with God in a different situation. The Lord may remove the cause of the problem through prayer; for example, if it is persecution that was bringing about the problem, the source of it may be sent elsewhere.

When it comes to restoration from backsliding as a wandering sheep, God will use the means of grace to restore his people in that condition. With David, he used Nathan, one of his servants, to point out to David privately where he had gone wrong. With Peter, Jesus restored him personally in Jerusalem on the resurrection day and restored him to his role a few days later in Galilee in the presence of other disciples. One of the best places for restoration is the company of Christians. Often a backslider feels ashamed and imagines it is better to be away from them, but that is wrong, and is likely a suggestion of the devil.

A believer under church discipline may be affected by witnessing the Lord’s Supper taking place and he cannot participate. He recalls previous occasions when his soul was fed and he repents of his folly in putting his heart into the cold condition it now is in.

Of course, we have to remember that not all backsliding is visible backsliding. Some backslide without doing or saying anything wrong, even although their hearts are at a distance from God. Whatever the circumstances in which the Lord does it, the process always involves repentance. It is impossible to be restored from a backsliding state without repenting of the relevant sins.

Sometimes we may consider the activity of repentance as undesirable in case it opens for us wounds that we would rather keep closed. Yet the fact is that the One to whom we repent is the heavenly physician who has promised to heal his people from their spiritual diseases. This is the point of spiritual recovery. It means returning to the place where we are on good spiritual terms with the Shepherd.

Spurgeon in a sermon on this verse mentions a rather startling but accurate spiritual statistic: ‘Child of God, as numerous as your sins have been, so numerous have His restorations been.’ In stating why he thought Jesus did this, Spurgeon’s conclusion was that ‘It is the way of Him; it is the habit of His love.’ This is a reminder that we should go direct to the Shepherd immediately and ask him to restore our souls.