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A Prescription for Soul Care


“He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.”  (Proverbs 19:8)

We receive newsletters from a ministry that a friend once served with.  One of their initiatives is to provide opportunities for rest, restoration and renewal for those involved in full time ministry.  They frame it as caring for your soul or soul care.

Loving one’s own soul is probably the foundation of soul care.  But it’s not a foundation based on selfish or self-absorbed love but based on pursuing and acquiring wisdom and understanding.  As we grow in wisdom and understanding, we then see the need to be engaged in the careful and purposeful loving and nurturing of our souls in order to grow in our relationship with God.

In further driving this home, I noticed a sort of polar opposite as I was reading through the book of Ezekiel:

“And there you will remember your ways and all your deeds, with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.”  (Ezekiel 20:43).

To loathe is to feel strong aversion or intense dislike for, to hate or detest.  When we are reminded of our foolishness, our selfishness, our sinfulness and all the evil we have done to defile ourselves, the natural response is to loathe ourselves. In fact, all those demonstrate, among other things, a significant deficiency of wisdom and understanding and it makes caring for our souls all that much harder as we grapple with the outcome of loathing ourselves.

While acquiring wisdom and understanding can facilitate the appropriate loving of our souls, wisdom and understanding would also point us to something that is far more meaningful and foundational:  Jesus is the lover of our souls!

Check out the hymn “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” if you need further proof!

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