Soul Home!

March 11, 2021

Soul Home!

Our soul often does not feel settled and grounded in the Lord God.  Our soul longs to be home! 

When our soul is at home, there is a deep peace and great joy that is released in us.  Some people describe this peace and joy as happiness.  But, soul-deep peace and joy is much more than happiness.

It is like our soul is whole, healthy, and home.  The Apostle John describes our soul at home as being “well.”  In III John 1:2 the Apostle writes; “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”  Our soul is well when our soul is at home in Christ.

After suffering the loss of his children, Horatio Spafford wrote a song in 1873.  Spafford wanted to give praise to the Lord God for the peace and joy he found in Jesus through the seasons of great difficulty as well as the seasons of great blessing.

Here are a couple of verses of Spafford’s song, “It Is Well with My Soul.”

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.”

The Lord God created us with a soul and desires our soul to be at home in Him.  Our soul experiences home when it is filled with the Spirit’s peace and joy.  We sing, “It is well with my soul.”

Last week, a 15-year old student asked me, “What is the soul?”  We were standing in the chapel where the body of her beloved grandfather was lying in a casket.  She did not understand that her grandfather and she were both physical and spirit…both body and soul. 

Because she was struggling to understand that we are more than physical beings, the whole idea of eternal life and heaven did not make very much sense.  We visited as long as you can with a 15-year old at a funeral.  She left the conversation with something about which to think and pray.

Many of us are not happy because our soul is not at home.  There is a lack of peace and joy in our lives because we are not aware of or, at the very least, not paying attention to our soul.  The result is our soul is not at home, our soul is not well, our soul is not healthy.

Is it well with your soul?  Or, is your soul often empty or dark or left longing.  I like the way the Psalmist describes the longing of our soul for home in Christ.  In Psalm 63:1 he says; “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”  Jesus wants your soul to be well and to be at home in Him.     

When our soul is well, we will offer our gratitude and praise to Jesus.  When our soul is at home in Christ, we will take delight in the Lord.

Take delight in the Lord!

Doug