The Soil Of Your Soul

Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

Psalm 26:2

Topsoil—that luxurious layer of soil in which plant life thrives—is disappearing in America. As modern agricultural and commercial development has spread, wind and water have removed more than a foot of this precious resource. Yet when soil leaves one grain at a time, it’s hard to see it happening.

The erosion of one’s spiritual life happens like the erosion of topsoil—one sin at a time. Erosion and sin are deceptive. A grain of soil breaks free, weakening others that soon follow. A sin is willingly committed and unconfessed, and others are likely to follow.

That’s what happened to Saul, the king of Israel. He grew impatient for the prophet Samuel to come to Gilgal to offer a sacrifice before battle, and so he offered the sacrifice himself—a sin in God’s sight (1 Samuel 13). He gave himself permission to sin once, and it became ever easier to sin again.

If you have sinned, repent quickly. The same clay that makes bricks to build a cathedral can create a gully by its absence. Don’t let sin wash away the soil of your soul.