Afflicted in soul

Have you ever been so deeply hurt that you didn't think you would ever get over it? Have you ever experienced the feeling that you're whole world has just been shattered? Have you ever felt alone even though you're surrounded by people? Of course you have, we all have. That's what it means to be afflicted in your soul.

In Leviticus 23:27-32, God is teaching the people of Israel, through Moses, about the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was a day set aside each year for the people to make a sacrifice for their sins. Three times in this passage God mentions being "afflicted in your soul." The point is that God didn't just want the people to make a sacrifice and go on their merry way. They were to spend time contemplating their sin through prayer, confession, fasting and repentance. Sin is serious and God's people should take it seriously. Psalm 40:6 says, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require." God didn't want His people to simply make an offering, He wanted them to acknowledge their sin, to be broken by it, and to turn away from it. The sacrifice didn't mean anything if the person's heart wasn't right.

God wants the same from us. He doesn't want lip service He wants our hearts to be right. Psalm 40:8 goes on to say, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." When the children of God sin, it should break our hearts. It should afflict our souls and bring us to the place of acknowledging and confessing our sin before God, remembering the sacrifice of His Son, and turning away in the power of the Holy Spirit to do His will. Christians, we can be assured that our sins are atoned for by the death of Jesus. He died once, for all my sins. We can also be assured that when we sin, the Holy Spirit will bring us to a place of brokenness and repentance in order to restore our fellowship with God. I certainly don't enjoy being afflicted in my soul, but I praise God for the brokenness because it brings me closer to Him.

•••

Editor's note: Paul Bryant is the pastor of First Baptist Church, Garfield. He can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Religion on 08/26/2014