From the hymnal · He Restores My Soul
He Restores My Soul
The title hymn from our Psalm 23 record — made in a little chapel the same week the new carpet went down. No shadow overhead and no neighbor to name: only the Shepherd, the still water, and a room soft enough to forgive the notes we didn't quite reach. We print it as we sang it, on the new floor, in the one key of C.
The Lord is our Shepherd, and we shall not want,He leads us where meadows are quiet and long;He carries us down to the still-water side,And there in the stillness our worries subside.
We tracked it in autumn, the carpet was new,And the room, being softer, forgave what we grew;No echo came back with a barb or a blame —The chapel gave grace to each note that we named.
Though we walk through the valley where shadows are long,We will fear no darkness, for He makes us strong;His rod and His staff are a comfort and stay,And the fear that we carried is folded away.
He sets us a table, He fills up the cup,Till it runs at the brim and we cannot keep up;And surely His goodness will follow us home,To the house of the Lord, where we never will roam.
Refrain
He restores, He restores, He restores my soul,He gathers the broken and makes the heart whole;Come weary, come thirsty, come just as you are —He leads you to water; He is never far.
A note for the folding chairs
He Restores My Soul (2012) is our Psalm 23 record, and this is its title hymn. We made it in a little chapel that had just been re-carpeted that same week — the men were still hauling the last roll of it out the side door when we set up the microphones. A soft new floor turns out to be a mercy to a band that records everything in a single weekend and a single key: the room stopped throwing our mistakes back at us, and it forgave the notes we did not quite reach. We have always thought that is exactly what the psalm is about. There is no quarrel anywhere in this one and no shadow to hold our volume against — only the Shepherd, the still water, the table, and the cup that runs over. The good people at KLOVE were kind enough to name it their Listener's Choice, third place, in 2013, and we keep the little certificate propped by the decaf. Bring a dish. Bring your whole tired self. Stay for the second cup.
Hymn four of eight albums' worth — the second here with no quarrel in it, and the gentlest yet. Back to the hymnal — “We Held the Volume” →