The life giving power of God's word

Psalm 19:7a The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;

Today's description in Psalm 19 describes the Bible as "The Law of the Lord".  That word for "law" in the text is the Hebrew word "Torah".  When the Psalmist describes the "Law of the Lord" as "Torah", He is referring to the ability the scripture has to guide and lead one to spiritual and moral change.  Scripture makes you less "self-centered" and more "God-centered".   

Now as God's law or Torah, scripture is revealed with other qualities that lend to its description here as "The guiding reference point" or "Torah" or "Law of the Lord":

1. The Law of the Lord is Perfect.  This means that there is not one area, word or syllable that contains nor can lead anyone to error.  The scriptures by their very character are without error.  This is one of the strongest statements in the Bible concerning its quality as being without error (what Bible teachers call "inerrancy"). 

2. The Law of the Lord restores.  As the perfect book, the scriptures function to "restore" or "convert" the soul.  The word here for "restore" means to literally "bring about a turn around".  Perhaps you reading this blog today are needing a "major turn around" in your life.  Scripture has that inherent quality.  Romans 10:17 tells us that by the hearing of scripture faith comes.  

3. The Law of the Lord works in the soul.  What is the soul?  You as a person are made up of three basic areas: body, soul and spirit.  Your human spirit is the innermost part of you, what we sometimes call the "heart" or the "inward man". (Matthew 22:37-39; Colossians 3:15-16)  The human spirit is where salvation and conversion takes place.  It is where the Holy Spirit comes and lives at salvation.  The spirit is your center of "God awareness". 

The Body is of course that physical part, composed of the five senses and is the center of "world awareness".  Your soul is the true you.  You don't merely have a soul, you are a soul, composed of mind, emotions and will.  The soul interracts between your spirit and the body.  Think of your "spirit" being clothed by you (your soul), with your soul (you) in turn being clothed by your body. 

The Scriptures function to bring your soul (mind, emotions, will) into allignment with what God the Holy Spirit is already doing in your spirit.  When you take in or memorize the scripture by the thinker of your soul - "the mind", the emotions follow along and before you know it, your decider of the soul - "the will", chooses to do what God says.  Without scripture, no spiritual life nor desire to live for God can begin nor be maintained. (1 Peter 1:23)  That is the life giving power of God's word.