Restless
“Why are you downcast oh my soul? Tell me, why are you disturbed and restless within me?” (Psalm 42:11)
What do we do in the moments when we, like King David, wrestle with the discontented spirit of restlessness?
In our human condition, this dis-ease of the soul, will beckon us to comfort it. If we’re not careful, we can reach for something in our vexation, that will ultimately change the trajectory of our life. King David knew this unsettled feeling as he was secretly watching Bathsheba bathe on her rooftop, while she was exposed and vulnerable.
When our souls are restless, we become vulnerable as well. As naked and exposed as a sin waiting to happen. It’s in these frames of time…what we do next…matters. We must flee from the pull, the lull, the justification, the rationalization to appease our human desires. Because sin, no matter how small it might start, will eventually lead to death. Death of a marriage, of a family, of a dream, of a life.
Our restless souls are rooted in selfish entitlement and buried deep beneath our pride. The lie from the enemy that we “deserve” more, that we should “have” more, the pervasive thoughts that push out the light, and secretly nestle in the dark recesses of our mind, the ones that lead us on a path to destruction.
Our restless souls convince us we need a quick fix, an instant mood, or ego boost, to satisfy our displeasure.
Only the mind stayed in Christ can win this waging war. Only the soul reaching for Jesus, will stop reaching anywhere, and everywhere else, to steady itself. Scripture reveals this poignant truth in Romans 8:6, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
Thankfully, we too, can learn as David did, how to speak truth to our own soul. “Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”
David overcame restlessness through praise.
The spiritual solution for a restless soul, is to bless the Lord.
Our restlessness is warning sign. A gift from a gracious God which prompt us to pray. A spiritual signal, beckoning us to grab onto His steady hand, resist temptation, and flee. Discontentment serves as a flashing red light to say, “STOP! You are about to go the wrong way, turn around beloved!” Unquietness is a merciful cue that our souls are craving something to fill it, something to satisfy it. And whatever worldly comfort we grasp for, if it isn’t God’s Spirit, our spirt dies.
As humans, we can struggle with the inability to wait for the Lord. We want microwave everything. We want deliverance without obedience. Healing without repentance. Restoration without surrender. And redemption without self-denial. We cannot have our cake and eat it too, just like David could not have his peace, with a side of lust.
“I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you too less of yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with the demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing.” (1 Corinthians 10:19-21 MSG)
