All that Is within Me
Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Psalm 103:1
It is a peculiar thing about human life that we can compartmentalize ourselves, shutting off sections from others, even from ourselves.
We speak of the “elephant in the room” — the unspoken common agreement in families to avoid speaking about painful events and unhealthy patterns — but there can also be an “elephant in our souls” — something we ourselves have conspired to hide and ignore, or to treat lightly. So we come to church, we worship, but we keep part of our hearts hidden from Him, something shut down.
More often it is out of shame more than guilt — ashamed even to speak of it ourselves. But it can also be because we treasure a hidden sin and wish to return to it, so we confess it lightly, if at all, and call it a weakness, rather than the ugly thing it truly is.
Weeds, thorny vines, brambles, these only die if their root is dug up and killed. So it is in us, that we should praise God with ALL that is within us, the hidden secrets, the shameful sin habits, the patterns of lust and pride, these need to be dug up and confessed deeply, to the root, so that the healing of God will come in.
Everyone who has progressed to the higher planes of the Christian life, to fullness, fruitfulness, peace and joy, has learned this secret. Give God your whole heart, confess everything to the root, let His Spirit bring the inner healing and wholeness that He alone can achieve in hearts.
Thomas a Kempis wrote:
The kingdom of God is within you, saith the Lord. turn thee with thy whole heart unto the Lord, and forsake this wretched world, and thy soul shall find rest … Christ will come to thee and show thee his consolations, if thou prepare for him a worthy mansion within thee. All his glory and beauty is from within, and there is his delight.
We have, I am afraid, muddled our understanding by over-thinking some things, by dwelling too much on what is God’s work and what is our work in the matter of the purification of our souls. The Bible, however, simply calls us to action, calls us to purify our hearts, to cleanse our hands, and to follow Him. Granted we can do none of these things by ourselves, but neither will God do it without our hearts being willing to obey. So in the process we work, we trust, we pray, we lean on Him, we admit our weakness, and we work some more to purify our hearts.
But if any light has come to our hearts to show us what to rid them of, what elephants of our soul we should confess entirely, it is God’s light that has shone in our souls. This knowledge comes by His Spirit, so He is already involved in the process. Let all that is within you bless the Lord.
