Lifting our souls up – What does it mean?

What does it mean to “not lift up one’s soul to an idol”? This really got me thinking this morning. Here’s what I was reading in the context of Psalm 24:

“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3-4 NKJV

The bible makes it clear that we, as humans, are made up of: body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). How do we satisfy the bodily desires? Clearly, food and drink are probably the first and foremost ways. How about feeding our spirits? Again, if you are a Christian, then that’s pretty easy to answer: prayer, bible reading worship etc. But how do we satisfy our souls?

When I think about how I satisfy my soul, I think of things like: music, beautiful country walks; watching the sunrise, reading a good book, having fellowship with a friend etc. How about you?

I think the psalmist is warning us to be on guard about how we satisfy the longings of our souls.

Maybe you are like like me? The times I struggle the most in this area is when my ‘soul bucket is running on empty’ so to speak; often when I face disappointments or have had a ‘bad day at the office’; when I’m extremely tired or ‘bored’ these are moments when I must be really on guard as to where I look to satisfy my soul. Another time to be wary is when we are lacking vision or a clear goal in life, as the proverb says, such a person: “casts off restraints” (Proverbs 29:18).

How do we ‘lift’ our souls and ensure it’s not to idols or something false? Well, an idol is something that we use to replace God. There are may things that could turn into an idol. For example, playing a round of golf is not a bad thing? But, what if playing golf begins to encroach on other areas of life, such as fulfilling family obligations or would cause us to miss church or even cause us to want to play golf rather than going to church? Then it’s becoming an idol. I’ve used golf as an illustration. However, there are many more things I could think of. For example, in my life, I’ve found it so easy to watch something football related or just overdose on news posts on Youtube or get so engrossed in photography related things rather than looking to God to help me fill my empty soul bucket.

Lastly, I thought about Jeremiah 2:13 which states:

‘My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.’

We can turn to many things to satisfy our longing souls. Ultimately, if we don’t turn to God and seek godly ways, then these may bring some sort of short term pleasure but will never truly satisfy us.

So for me, tonight, I’m choosing to write this, find a suitable photo to head it rather than ‘vegging out’ watching Youtube videos. I’m finding it quite satisfying. How about you? What will you do to satisfy your longing soul?

NB. Philippians 4:8 is really helpful too 🙂