A Converted, Completely Restored Soul

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

What is your response to this statement: The Bible is sufficient for a complete restoration of your soul?

A lot of people doubt it, you know. Sure, they may say, it’s OK for spiritual problems or maybe some superficial problems, but it’s too simplistic, too archaic for modern man. To them, the complex psychological issue of people today is beyond the bounds of the Bible. 

The truth of the matter is that the Bible is the sum total of God’s instruction to man. One of my favorite descriptions of the Bible comes from Dennis Prager who, in his class on the Torah at the American Hebrew University, said, “The Torah is a human repair manual.” 

And that’s what the Psalmist said too. He called Scripture “the Law of the Lord,” and said it “is perfect, converting the soul.”

The Hebrew word “perfect” in some of your translations, means, sufficient or complete. In other words, it contains everything necessary for your spiritual life. Albert Barnes said it well: Scripture "lacks nothing [for] its completeness; nothing in order that it might be what it should be. It is complete as a revelation of Divine truth; it is complete as a rule of conduct … It is absolutely true; it is adapted with consummate wisdom to the [needs] of man; it is an unerring guide of conduct. There is nothing there which would lead men into error or sin; there is nothing essential for man to know which may not be found there" (Notes on the Old Testament: Psalms, p. 171).

Now, that’s sufficiency! In fact, it’s so comprehensive, it can “convert” your soul. “Convert” is from a Hebrew word, which means, to restore, revive, or refresh. God’s “Human Repair Manual” has the ability to transform your soul — the inner man. 

You can, if you want, consider human alternatives to transform your life, but why would you? They are impotent for the deepest part of man. That’s because they work only on the psyche to change the outside — human behavior — but God works deeper, converting, restoring, reviving, refreshing the soul. 

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul… Psalm 19.7