“And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
Luke 12:19-20 (RSV)
In this parable, Jesus gave us an example of someone who spoke to his own soul with a false confidence, crediting himself for all the material goods he accumulated, while assuming he had a lifetime to enjoy them. In other words, he mishandled his blessings. Jesus seems to be telling us that there is a right and a wrong way to speak to our soul.
Happiness in life is not about achieving the best ratio of gains over losses. It’s about how we respond to every gain and every loss that we encounter.
Everyone’s lifetime is filled with a series of gains and losses, but God intended for us to remain in close fellowship with Him through it all.
In all of our blessings and successes, we can speak to our soul, reminding ourselves that every good gift is from God. We remind our soul that He is the source of all that is good, and we offer Him thanks and praise.
He is also closest to us during times of grief and loss. We know this from what David wrote in the psalms, that God is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm34:18)
During times of distress, we speak to our soul, and are consoled, knowing that God’s Presence is mysteriously nearer to us when we are broken or or crushed.
We all have the same invisible enemy, and he has been using the same strategy since the beginning of time. Satan wants us to take all the credit for our successes, and blame God for all of our losses. He wants to destroy faith and the relationship between God and His people, but God tells us if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. (James 4:7)
By speaking to our soul, we will resist the devil, being wise to his schemes. There is a language of faith that sows the seeds of hope, and it needs to be spoken to our soul regularly. We were created to stay in regular fellowship with God through Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants to help us thrive, not just survive each trial. When we speak the right way to our soul, we edify and strengthen our faith.
Remember the woman in the gospel story who had a hemorrhage for twelve years? She spoke to her soul saying, “If I just touch the edge of His garment I will be healed.” She initiated her miraculous healing by speaking faith to her own soul, and afterward, Jesus praised her for it.
Scripture tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
If faith comes from hearing, then we can increase our faith, by hearing ourselves speak those truths of Christ to our soul. His truths are found in scripture, though His truths are often counter cultural. We walk the narrow path that leads to life, not the broad deceptive path of this present culture.
We also speak to our soul when we are distracted with worry and anxiety, as we recall the invitation of Jesus, saying “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Jesus told us His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We remind our soul to let Jesus lighten our burden as we wait for His rest.
Praising and thanking God in hard times, is a sacrifice. It doesn’t feel natural, but if it came naturally, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice. The sacrifice of praise is really at the heart of worship. In fact, sacrifice is at the heart of everything Jesus ever did or taught. Since He was both divine and human in nature, He didn’t feel like sacrificing, but we can thank Him and remind our soul that He did it for us.
These are many things that we can speak to our soul about, and we need to do it through the good and the bad times, in our gains and in our losses, through our blessings and our trials. We speak to our souls in this life, because this is our training ground to offer God a sacrifice of praise.
We speak to our soul with the hope that we may one day meet Jesus, see His face and hear Him speak to our soul, and say,
“Well done, my friend, and thank you for honoring me with the fruit of your lips.”
Lord, we praise you for our blessings and for being a comforter and giving us rest from distress. Draw us closer to you as we speak to our souls, believing your truth and receiving your love, wisdom and strength. Amen