Lifting Up Our Souls - Pastor's Column Feb. 2024
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” – Psalm 25:1
“Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.” – Psalm 86:4
“Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should
go, for to you I lift up my soul.” – Psalm 143:8
In three different psalms here, all three attributed to David, we have a phrase in prayer to the Lord saying, “I lift up my soul to you.” What does it mean to lift up one’s soul the Lord? In Hebrew, “soul” is word that means “life force.” It is the thing that gives you life and motion and causes you to be. It is the whole person along with the mind, appetite, desires, and passions. To lift up one’s soul is to lift up one’s whole self; one’s whole life, along with all that one has and all that one is. To lift up one’s life in such a way is to make an offering of ourselves to whatever it is that we may be lifting ourselves up.
Hopefully, if we are making such an offering of ourselves, it will be an offering to the Lord. If we are so bold to lift up our souls to a thing, then surely that thing is something we long for; something we are counting on and depending upon. Of course in the weakness of our human lives, we are often preyed upon by the Devil who comes to us tickling our ears with empty promises of worldly things. We are tempted by quick fixes and instant gratification when it seems we can get it. At other times, we may be tempted to put all our trust in ourselves and not lift up our souls to anything. We seek to become our own gods and masters. It was the same temptation with which the serpent appealed to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The Devil also tempts Jesus in a similar way in the wilderness. It is a text that we will hear this month as the season of Lent begins. We will hear the short version from Mark’s gospel this year, but in the longer story from Matthew and Luke, Jesus is tempted to either trust in himself and his own power, or to fall down and worship the Devil to receive Lordship over all things. But Jesus is steadfast and faithful, and lifts his soul—his life—only to his Father in heaven.
In our worship, we embody this lifting up of our souls to the Lord. “Soul” is changed to “heart,” but the deep meaning remains the same. In the Great Thanksgiving which begins the Communion liturgy, the pastor charges the people saying, “Lift up your hearts,” to which the people respond, “We lift them to the Lord.”
As we prepare to enter the season of Lent, may the Lord continually turn our hearts and minds to him, that we may join the prayers of the Psalms saying, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”