For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.  Jeremiah 31:25

Soul weary.  It’s the condition expressed well by Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien’s, The Fellowship of the Rings. “I am old…I don’t look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts…Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can’t be right. I need a change, or something.”[1]

Eventually, we’re all spread thin, weighed down and laid out by our failures, the wrong done to us and all that is wrong in this world. Our souls were never designed to nourish themselves and that’s why the gospel was given, to not only free us from sin, death and guilt, but to bring healing to our souls, in the here and now.

Look for tired out, despondent people in the Bible and you will find plenty:  David, Elijah, Moses, Job.  God’s promise to them extends to you today: “I will satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25). Hosea wrote, “Let us press on to know the Lord…He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:3).

Are you soul weary today?  Repentance also ushers in times of soul refreshing. “Repent of your sins,” Peter preached, “so that your sins may be wiped away.  Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19-20a).

 

Resource reading: Psalm 23: 1-6

[1] Tolkien, J.R.R. The Tolkien quote database – lotrproject. The Lord of the Rings Family Tree Project. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from http://lotrproject.com/quotes/book/thefellowshipofthering//2