My Dear Shepherds,

One of David’s great gospel songs begins,

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases . . . (Ps. 103:1–3)

That second benefit tends to give believers pause but David was speaking to his soul not his body. It is the diseases of our “inmost being” that God heals when he saves us.

Jesus’ healing miracles in the Gospels were like promissory notes for the greater healing he would bring to the hearts of all those who would believe in him. As Jesus pointed out, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?”

So we praise God that our souls, once blind to his grace and truth, now see. Our hearts, once deaf, now hear with understanding. Our spirits, once lame, now walk and leap. Those are developing miracles. We gradually see better, hear more clearly, rejoice more deeply, till we step into glory.

There is, I think, another aspect of our souls’ diseases. One time in the days before email I stood out by the church mailbox, sorting through the day’s letters. One was addressed to me from a wonderful couple in our church. But when I saw it, my stomach clenched and I thought, why are they mad at me?! It turned out it was only registration for something. But then I thought, what’s wrong with me? Why am I so afraid? Only three weeks earlier I’d preached on Psalm 103, so it dawned on me that the anxiety that often lurked beneath my pastoral relationships was a disease of my soul.

Some of our soul’s diseases and wounds disappear the moment we trust Christ. But not all of them. Each of us lives with inner conditions inconsistent with the promises given to blood-bought people of God. For example, fear can be one. So can crippling shame, unrelieved loneliness or sorrow, or deep scars from abuse. Nourished and relished, they can become sinful. And they are certainly the workshop of the devil.

My friend, Pastor Casey Dwyer, put it this way in a sermon:

I remember when I had a minor surgery under anesthesia, that one of the strangest things was that I felt pain from wounds that I didn’t remember getting . . .. I couldn’t remember the experience, but the body remembered.

So too it is true of the soul. Our souls remember things that we’ve forgotten. They remember all the trauma, the pain, the heartbreak. Every time our hopes are dashed—the soul remembers. Every time we sin—the soul remembers. Every wounding word we say about ourselves, or others—the soul remembers. And each time it gets sicker, and sicker, and sicker.

The reason the diseases of our souls are not all suddenly banished as immediately as our forgiven sins is that the process of finding healing for our “inner being” is how we learn the step-by-step walk of faith. Instant healing is wonderful, but slow healing requires Christians to pray, study Scripture, diagnose our souls, work out obedience, and step into loving fellowship with Jesus and his people. Sometimes we must recognize and repent of sins we’ve committed in trying to escape our hurts.

For pastors, this slow process in our own lives is what we draw on in helping others. If we are to be physicians of souls, we need to know how our own souls are healed. Then we are equipped to preach, counsel, and to lead our people in full-fledged praise for our salvation.

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.