Heart, Soul, and Strength

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5

This week I learned that the Hebrew word for “soul” is nephesh, which translates into English as “throat.” At first, this seemed odd to me. However, as we look at the way soul/nephesh is used throughout the biblical narrative, we realize it has to do with our life source—the access point to our innermost being, that which is infused with the very breath of God—the Spirit of God.

If you think about it, our nephesh is a core necessity for life. It plays a fundamental role in our ability to eat and to breathe—it is the very portal through which all of our internal organs are ultimately nourished and sustained. As a primary and essential element of our existence, it makes sense that our soul—our nephesh—is understood by the biblical authors in this way.

So when the writers of Deuteronomy state, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” they mean with everything that we are—mind, nephesh, and strength. And by nephesh, I believe they mean the very access point to—and essence of—our entire life. The command is to total surrender of all that we are to all that God is.

~em

BibleProject. “What it means to love God with all your soul.” YouTube, 2018, https://youtu.be/g_igCcWAMAM?si=aHTFS6oBXFD-_DFR

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