Soul Detox: Restlessness

I’ve been thinking for several weeks where we would go after our series on the the theological foundations message series.

I was talking to Michelle about it and she made an offhand comment about being tired.

I hadn’t thought much about it, but it is true that when we get stressed with responsibilities and thinking about important things, it depletes our bodies. We literally run on empty.

So I began thinking about doing a series on the Psalms… because while I need to take care of my body, even more important is Soul Care.

WE ARE NOT A BODY WITH A SOUL, BUT A SOUL WITH A BODY.

I was thinking a Summer Psalter… but then I came across a book Soul Detox because I needed it. So today we are starting a message series on caring for our soul. The book is good, it goes into specific things that “toxify” our soul and how to detox from each of them. You might find it very helpful. I’m listening to it again because I did for sure.

Over the next few weeks, through this series we are going to take a different approach to soul care than the book…

WE are going to spend a bit of time in the Psalms, but to start I like the way the KJV in Genesis describes the importance of soul care:

Genesis 2:7 KJV 1900

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

WE ARE NOT A BODY WITH A SOUL, BUT A SOUL WITH A BODY.

This past week we have had some amazing sunsets haven’t we. You may not have seen them, but you probably did see that the sky was hazy. Apparently it was due to a low pressure system covering the mid Atlantic region trapping the smoke from some wild fires in Canada in our atmosphere.

The sunsets were amazing. A couple of days we were warned of a code purple though. That means the air quality was so poor that we were to limit activity outdoors.

We realize that the smoky air would cause breathing problems. But did you know that air pollution like that caused by wild fires is one of the biggest factors for emotional problems as well.

That’s right, smoke and other air pollutants have been scientifically linked to an increase in anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Toxins we take in to our body are the cause of all sorts of medical problems beyond our brain health. It just makes sense that you would want to limit or even eliminate these from your life if any way possible… You would want to detox your body.

But remember you aren’t just a body with a soul, you are a soul with a body so if its wise to detox our bodies, it would be far more important to detox our soul.

Over the next four weeks we are going to look at exactly how to detoxify our soul. Because let’s face it, our environment isn’t exactly the greatest when it comes to spiritual health.

Next week we are going to look at the Burdened Soul, then we will consider the Tortured Soul, and finally the Seduced Soul. But today we begin with sort of a broad look at soul health when we consider the Restless Soul.

-----------------------------------------

PRAY

-----------------------------------------

THE CURSE OF THE RESTLESS SOUL

Why are we so restless?

It goes back to the very beginning… fall.

Genesis 4:11–12 NIV

11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

THE CURSE OF THE RESTLESS SOUL

A restless wanderer.

Have you ever felt that way? It’s not that something is wrong with you… well it is… but it’s not you and your problem… it’s our problem. This is something that all of us have a tendency to fall in to restlessness.

Because we are looking for someone to be something that only God can be.

We are chasing significance that only God can fulfill.

We are pursuing possessions that only God can provide

So we are a restless wanderer… wandering through life - searching - trying to find the very things that only God can provide.

THE RESTLESS SOUL IS SEARCHING BUT NEVER FINDING.

THE RESTLESS SOUL IS INTERESTED IN EVERYTHING BUT SATISFIED WITH NOTHING.

So you see, restlessness isn’t your problem - it is, but it’s not just yours. Its a problem common to all of us, because we are all living under the curse of the fall. We are all affected.

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God and began to look to provide for themselves instead of rely upon God - THeir rebellious nature has been passed down to us - and so here we are.

Interested in everything but satisfied with none of it…

So we go from one thing to the next, like at Sams Club on Saturday… sample here, sample there, taste this, taste that.

Always searching for the “thing” that will satisfy.

Inability shut down on the inside. Brain always running.

Solomon, who God blessed with amazing wisdom wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 1:14 NIV

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Then he goes on

Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 NLT

22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.

Day and night, we are restless.

And we are raising a generation of restless kids. We want them to have the things we don’t, so we push and push. we sign them up for everything that comes along, give them all sorts of entertainment… then wander why they want more. Because adults are teaching them that meaning is found in what we do and what we have.

We see our kids are stressed out, depressed, confused, and anxious and wonder why… could it be that we actually are great teachers?

All of us acknowledge our body needs rest: Soul needs rest.

WHERE DO WE FIND REST FOR OUR SOULS?

You can probably guess what I’m going to say, it’s no surprise

OUR SOULS FIND REST IN GOD - GOD ALONE.

Psalm 62:1 NIV84

1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

No other person, no experience, no dream, no thing can give internal rest like the presence of God!

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our soul is restless until it finds rest in you.” Augustine

Matthew 11:28–29 NIV

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

---------------------------------------

HOW DO WE FIND REST IN GOD?

One thing I love about God is he doesn’t hide himself or how he wants us to live. You really don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to decipher the Bible, its clear about the things that matter.

Exodus 20:8–11 NIV

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Sabbath… I was thinking of how rarely I take a legitimate sabbath.

Why is this commandment so different? I don’t intentionally ignore any of the other commands. I don’t curse God, I don’t murder, I don’t steal, I don’t lie about my neighbor, I don’t covet or steal … why do we thin

Just like we teach our kids to be anxious by filling their schedules - running, running, running… I got to thinking how I was showing you all to actually ignore the sabbath in my busyness

BE STILL BEFORE GOD.

Psalm 46:10 NIV

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Been around a small child who can’t be still?

Sit down and be still!

Psalm 131:1–2 NIV

1 My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

One time I was working with a christian coach and he challenged me to reframe my thinking of a sabbath. I asked what should I do. He said that’s the whole point… not doing… He said, just be still for 5 minutes, be still and consider God. I thought that’s crazy, not sure how it will help, as easy as that will be… it was the hardest thing in the world.

My mind immediately went to all the things I had to do

When we talked the next time, I came to realize that I was enslaved to a bunch of things that were not God.

You may be thinking I don’t have time to be still before God… You’ve got Bills to pay, yard to mow, dinner to make, diapers to change… Important things that only you can do

Don’t have time to be still—you don’t have time not to be still!

Be Still before God, second element of Sabbath is to.

-----------------------------------------

WAIT FOR GOD.

Psalm 37:7 NIV

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Don’t like to wait for anything. Don’t know how to wait.

I’ve shared with you how I grocery shop… what’s next.

Give me patience and give it to me now.

I was listening to a podcast a while back I think it was Frances Chan and he was talking about how he waited for God.

He said he reads a passage over and over and over. He doesn’t read to finish, but to connect.

Psalm 130:5–6 ESV

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

You might want to write these questions down to lead you in waiting on the Lord:

What do you want to say to me?

What do you want to show me?

What do you want to do in me?

Not in job you want, not married, not in ministry, not in good health.

Take a sabbath… be still… wait for God and third

-------------------------------------------

REFLECT ON GOD’S GOODNESS.

Tempted to think about all I have to do—think of all God has done.

Psalm 116:7–9 ESV

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

Soul from death, eyes from tears, feet from stumbling

I’m not who I was before… you have delivered me!

I’m not who I was before… I am now a child of God, redeemed and set free.

Psalm 23:1–3 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

That which keeps us from a sabbath, enslaves us.

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

----------------------------------------