These words are among the most precious in this priceless psalm. They speak to the experience of many children
of God, who are deeply conscious of the need of the restoring grace of the Good Shepherd. If He were alone to be
followed, and if His influences upon us were always instantly and wholly, obeyed, there would be no need of restoration.
But we are not always susceptible and obedient to the heavenly leadings; we easily relapse into states of lethargy
and indifference, and it is necessary that we should be restored.
The most fruitful source of spiritual declension is the neglect of the Word of God and of private devotion. Just
so long as the spirit of man keeps on terms of intimacy with the loving Spirit of God, while the Bible is regularly
and prayerfully studied and the habit of retirement is maintained, there will be a regular growth in grace and
in the know]edge and love of God.
If only the golden pipes are kept free and unclogged, there will be an uninterrupted flow of the golden oil to
feed the flame of a holy life. We know all this. Our hearts have often tasted the sweet refreshing and holy encouragement
which are found in these quiet, blessed hours spent in the most holy place. We know that there is nothing which
is more productive of all that makes life worth having than communion with God. And yet this is the one exercise
which we are most prone to hurry or neglect. The chapters of the Word of God are skimmed as a duty, as the surface
of a mountain lake is touched here and there by the breast of the wildfowl; while the morning or evening prayer
is uttered so coldly and perfunctorily that it had almost have better been unsaid. Is it, then, to be wondered
at that the energies of the spiritual life decline, and sadly need the interposition of some strong, wise hand
to restore?
Unconfessed sin is another cause of swift spiritual decline. If there be a cause of disagreement, however trivial,
among friends, they shrink from meeting; or if they meet, there is a coldness and restraint which is the more evident
and painful in proportion to the warmth and intimacy of their previous attachment. There can be no more heart-union
till the cause of estrangement has been probed, and the wrong confessed or the misunderstanding explained. And
the same principle obtains in the relationship of the soul with God. When we sin, there is generally a tendency
to imitate Adam and Eve in their concealment beneath the foliage of the garden. Before that sad yielding is the
temptation of the devil. The happiest hour in all the day was that in which, as the evening breeze shed a delicious
cool on the tropic heat, the voice of the Lord God was heard summoning them to commune with Him. But that sin makes
the thought of fellowship unwelcome. Similarly we have learned again and again that unconfessed sin casts a dark
shadow over our fellowship with God, and makes it irksome or perfunctory. Then we begin to exchange the open heart
for the averted one, and put on the shy look and the formal phrase. And if the sin is not instantly confessed and
put away, the little rift within the lute will widen, until it make the music mute.
Worldly society, with all its accessories, is another fruitful source of spiritual decline. It is impossible to
spend much time amid the trifling talk, the inane conversation, the banter, the ridicule, the empty literature,
the frivolous pursuits of what is called "society," without losing much of the fine edge, the holy temper
of the soul. Man cannot touch a butterfly's wing without rubbing away some of the delicate down that covers it
with microscopic feathers; and we are equally unable to be constantly living in the atmosphere of the salons of
this world without sacrificing that indescribable delicacy and holiness of character which is God's choicest gift.
Of course, if the Lord Jesus sends us into the world to work for Him, He will keep us there. But we shall soon
decline in spiritual health if we choose to live there; just as the country maiden will lose her bright, healthy
colour, and show signs of consumption, if she always lives in the stifling atmosphere of the overcrowded room and
amid the unwholesome conditions of our city life.
Neglect of some known command will also soon pull down the strongest spiritual health into the weakness of disease
and decline. If only all the Christians who are now fencing with some known command of Christ would dare to obey
it, there would be one of the greatest revivals that we have ever seen. You sometimes meet Christians who tell
you that they used to be deeply "exercised" on certain matters.
What does the word "exercised" mean? Does it not mean that Christ was testing them by a certain definite
command, and that they were, in point of fact, resisting Him, choosing their own way rather than His? And if this
"exercise" of soul has stayed, what is the cause save this, that the gracious Master has had the direct
negative so clearly given Him, that it is of no further use for Him to ply the disobedient spirit, and so He has
withdrawn from it? It may be saved, "so as by fire." But it can never know His tenderest love, or be
used by Him for His loftiest ministry.
There are many signs of the declension of the soul: its restlessness; its spirit of captious complaining; its want
of interest in the concerns of Christ's kingdom; its inability to testify for Christ or against sin; its unwillingness
to admit that it is any different to what it used to be; its wincing beneath contact with the Word of God faithfully
preached, and with the experience of others who are living in soul-health and in happy fellowship with God. Just
as we have met with people afflicted with an insidious and dangerous disease who yet refuse to consider themselves
so, and who fight against the desire of their friends to summon medical aid, so one phase of spiritual decline
is the attempt to turn aside all suggestions of its presence, although gnawing the vitals of the heart. Then follows
the sad admission, extorted as the years go on, that things are not as they were; which is followed by the hopeless
conclusion that they cannot now be mended.
How welcome it is to turn to the restoring grace of the Saviour! Nature is full of great restorative processes.
Directly a rent is made in her hillsides, she begins to festoon it with grasses, ferns, and creepers. When a wound
is caused in our flesh, and the red blood breaks through the broken rampart as it passes, it begins to build up
the breach, so that presently soundness takes the place of the lacerated aperture. Even when a rent is caused in
our families by the death of some dear invalid, whose presence had giver? a new thoughtfulness to all the inmates,
and whose death makes a breach almost irreparable to the survivors, then time with its healing influences begins
to repair the yawning void.
So, spiritually, the blessed Spirit of God is ever brooding over human hearts to do His choice and beloved work
of reparation and restoration. When the sheep is missing from the flock, He goes after the truant until He finds
it, and restores it to its place among the rest. When one piece is missing from the completed circle of His crown,
one jewel from His breastplate, He rests not till it is replaced. When one child is away in a far country, His
own joy is at an end till he is back.
O gentle, tender-hearted, pitiful Saviour, how eager Thou art in pursuing these, Thy chosen ministries to Thy weak
and unworthy children!
Christ uses many restorative ministries. Sometimes it is the word of a friend or minister. Or it may be a hymn
breathing the fragrance of a holy heart and speaking of a happier past. Or it may be a paragraph, a sentence, in
some biography or religious treatise. Not unfrequently it happens in this wise: you are away in the country, walking
solitarily and moodily, when there is a burst of sunbeams, or of song-notes from the brake; or, without ally natural
cause, you are suddenly aware of the gentle, thawing, all-pervasive influence of the grace of God, which touches
the deepest springs of the heart, and softens it, and leads it to contrition and prayer. Is not this experience
something like that resulting from the look which Jesus cast at Peter, and which sent him out to weep bitterly,
and was the first stage in his restoration?
Let those who want to understand the whole philosophy of restoration read the marvellous story of the way in which
the Good Shepherd restored the soul of His erring apostle. We can only enumerate the stages here. He prayed for
him, and warned him. From the midst of the rough crew that did their will on Him, "He turned, and looked upon
Peter," not angrily, nor harshly, but with the tenderest reproach. He gave a special message to the angels
that they should bid the women summon Peter amid the rest on the resurrection morning, showing how constantly he
had been in the Saviour's heart all through His sorrows.
He met him alone on the world's first Easter day, and permitted him to pour out the story of his sorrow unrestrained
by the presence of any besides themselves. He gave him an opportunity of thrice attesting his love, to wipe out
the memory of the thrice denial. And this is not more than He will do for any of us.
Oh, do not wait for days or weeks to elapse, ere you apply to Him for His restoring grace; but just as you are,
dare to trust Him to do it now. While the throb of passion is still beating high, and the deed of shame is recent,
look up to Him, and claim forgiveness first, and in the same breath ask Him to put you back immediately in the
very place which you occupied before you fell. And then, though as yet no answering joy thrills your heart, you
will be able to exclaim, in the assurance of faith, "He restoreth my SOUL."
Yes, and for those who dare to claim it there is another promise still more reassuring, which tells us that "He
will restore the years that the canker-worm has eaten," giving back to us opportunities and privileges which
we may seem to have forfeited for ever.