Psalm 66:8-9 says, “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.”
It has been over 60 years since I made the choice to follow Jesus. As a teenager in a revival meeting at our church, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my hypocritical life. I didn’t have the guts to go to the altar when the invitation was given. My heart was pounding, but I kept a firm grip on the pew. Altar calls were long in those days. We would sing all the verses of “Almost Persuaded,” then repeat them. As long as people came forward, we would keep singing. We would sometimes sing another song or two. Between singing, praying, and testifying, you could figure on a half-hour long altar service. Why go to all the trouble of having revival services twice a year and then not make them count?
The time came when the evangelist quit pleading and asked for some to come down and pray for those already kneeling at the altar. That was my chance. As I knelt at the end of the altar, thinking about what I should pray, my Sunday School teacher, Earl Housinger, knelt down on the other side of the altar.
“You didn’t come down to pray for others, did you?” At that moment I broke down. The tears flowed as I admitted that I was a dirty sinner—a hypocrite. When I finally got up, it was settled. Jesus came in. I felt like a bird out of a cage. I truly did repent. I began reading the Bible. Within a month or so, I felt called to preach. My school life changed. I invited my friends to church.
That was sixty years ago. I have been to the altar many times since. That is the place to get things settled. Nowadays, I go to the altar every morning to find His blood cleansing me. It feels so good to be clean.Â
Even with a true conversion, how does a person go on living for the next sixty years still excited about the Lord? Many have, and many have not. The secret is all in the Soul Holder, “Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.”
How does the Soul Holder do this? I believe this Psalm was written by David. He tells us how God worked in his life. In verse 10 he said, “For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.” As we walk after the Holy Spirit, He shows us our impurities. He sees the silver as precious. Sometimes we have to take the heat, but oh how precious is tried silver!
David, in the next verses, tells of affliction—fire and water. These testings were caused by men riding “over our heads.” David went into the house of the Lord with offerings. He found deliverance. He wanted to tell everybody, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul” (verse 15).
What did God do for his soul? He must have done a little purifying. David said in verse 18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Then he says, “But verily God hath heard me.”
The great Soul Holder keeps our feet from being moved by continually purifying us. That is because we are so precious to Him.
“There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins: and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains” (Hymn by William Cowper).
The key, praise God, is that all through life we are in the hands of the Soul Holder!
