Return, O my soul,
to your rest, for
the Lord has dealt
bountifully with you.
Psalm 116:7
I was buying a soda a few weeks ago. Another man – about seventy – was there too. He said, “This is my second Christmas.”
It was a good discussion starter. (I’m sure he’s learned to use it as a way to testify!) So when I looked curious, he said, “I died eighteen months ago.”
His story went something like this: An internal organ burst. He was in a medically induced coma for a month. He wasn’t expected to live; in fact, at least once in his long journey, his heart stopped.
Can you say, “near death experience”? He says he can remember walking into a beautiful garden. The light was bright (without being harsh). The air was warm (without being remotely hot or stuffy). The grass was soft. The fragrance sweet.
Then a hand grabbed him from the back of his collar and he was pulled back to earth. “This is my second Christmas” … “of my second life”! It was a powerful testimony.
Well, that’s what today’s verse is about. In the lines preceding this verse, the Psalmist says, The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord; “O Lord, I pray, save my life!”
In my Bible, this Psalm is entitled “Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness.” And the rest that the Psalmist is urging his “soul” to “return” to is to a state of peace, assurance, and tranquility, to the condition in which it was before the danger presented itself.
What’s your normal state … before there are any trials or infirmities? For many of us, that normal state is blind. We take “normal” for granted. I had a minor illness over the holiday, enough to make me yearn for health. It reminds me that when I’m sick, I definitely want to be restored to health. But … I don’t want to return that normal state of taking things for granted. I want to learn the title of this Psalm. I want to give thanks in all things.
In Christ’s Love,
a thankful man …
who apparently needs
to buy more soda and
hear more stories
(Wait … would buying
more soda make me
a more healthy man?
Maybe I just need to
loiter near soda fountains.)
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