Today’s Bible Reading: DEUTERONOMY 3:21-5:33
Deuteronomy 4:9
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children
Many people struggle with their physical and mental health, and rightfully so. Life compresses and crushes them. Stress and strain suck the life out of them. Navigating pain overwhelms them. Managing life monopolizes their time. It consumes them. Care in these areas is needed and necessary, if we are to thrive.
Yet this is only one aspect of our nature; one part of who we are. God created us as complex beings. We are composed of body and soul. Targeted care is essential at times, but not to the detriment of other aspects of our nature. To solely focus on one aspect of our character is crucial during crisis, but if it persists over time it can be damaging.
We are whole beings and need a holistic approach for our well-being. We need constant consistent care for our body and our soul. We tend to care for one over the other. We nurture one and neglect the other. They are intertwined and connected. They must be viewed together. The suffering of one leads to the supplanting of the other. To supplement one leads to the success of the other. A healthy body can enhance our soul. A thriving soul can undergird our body. We often take great care for our physical, emotional and mental state, but neglect our spirituality. We spurn soul care. We don’t view it as vital. It is secondary. But soul care is necessary to thrive.
Moses reminds God’s people of this essential truth. He admonishes them to “keep their soul diligently”. He encourages them to maintain a methodology that fosters a flourishing soul. He challenges them to daily supply it with spiritual nourishment. He calls the to manage its care by regularly remembering God’s favor and faithfulness toward His people. He tells them to so deeply integrate spiritual truth in their soul that it becomes a part of their being and overflows into their character and their counsel to our children. We too must heed his sound admonition
Yet, he cautions them that if they disregard their soul it will lead them to forget what God has done and cause them to fall away from their faith. Thus, diligence is the key to soul care. It is a priority that must be nurtured through discipline and decisiveness. Just as we plan to care for our body through healthy habits, we must plan to care for our soul. We must nourish it with a daily dose of soul food from scripture. We must make time to sit with the Lord in study and supplication. We must nurture it with soul reflection. We must meditate on His principles and precepts, molding them into the fabric of our being. Our well-being demands care for our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Spiritual health develops from habits of soul care. Develop them. Be diligent to keep them.
Today evaluate your self-care. Examine how you care for your body, mind and soul. Devise a plan that will enable you to flourish and thrive, by eliminating damaging habits and instilling good ones. Ask the Lord to help you keep your soul diligently.
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