How to Let Your Soul Find Rest in God’s Love

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”
-Zora Neale Hurston, #

The above quote is beautiful, but haunting. Can you picture this? A soul—that is crawling. Crawling out of hiding and into the light. Do you see the soul struggling, whether it’s straining to move where it wants to be or painfully trying to stay hidden. Which is safer it seems to be deciding, to move into freedom or to stay hidden? Our souls want to be seen and shared, to receive love and to give love, to feel safe but also known. Yet we put a lot of effort into protecting our souls. Coming out of hiding means we are vulnerable, open to pain and ridicule and suffering.

If love brings us out of our hiding place, then fear shoves us further back in. I write a lot about resting in God’s love, because personally I’ve felt the benefits of living my life as if God loves me no matter what instead of imagining that God is constantly disappointed in me.

God made our souls to shine. How can we move from a place of anxious fear to a place of restful love?

There is soul rest found in God’s love.

Resting in God’s love is not a physical rest, it’s a posture of the heart towards God—you can be physically still but the mind and heart are not at rest. And also you can be busy, living your life, going about your day, and have a rested heart.

Resting in God’s love means you are more focused on His love over His judgment. God is a righteous judge and He is to be feared for sure, but when you only focus on possible punishment or how you must be letting Him down, then you only hide. When you focus on how much God loves you, how His grace and mercy continually wash over you, then you are much more likely to flourish wherever you are.

God’s grace is a beautiful gift but some of us are only told of the punishment that is sure to come when we don’t obey—or that’s the message that sticks. A child that is only scared of punishment and doesn’t know he is loved will hide in fear, or rebel. While a child that is loved will feel safe enough to try new things, knowing it’s okay to fall because he will be helped back up, still loved.

Love is a relationship.

To focus on God’s love allows you to serve Him wholeheartedly. If you mess up, God is there to give you grace and His comforting presence. When you know you are loved by God, your life is more free, more open, more rested.

On the other hand, living from a place of fear and judgement causes you to hold back. You don’t want to fail because then you’ll have to deal with the criticism and disappointment of God and others. Fear causes your heart to shrink back, living closed up and anxious. But God desires your nearness, your relationship.

God chose love.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

The command to love is all over the pages of Scripture. Love God, love your neighbor, love your enemies, love your children, love your parents, love the poor. We’ve been given freedom to love, because God is love.

When sin entered the world, so did death and separation from God. God’s love for you prompted Him to do something unbelievable, so that you could know that you are loved.

God does not want us to live from a place of fear—repeatedly in the Bible we read to have courage and not fear. God knew how hard it would be to let our lights shine in a world that knocks us down and pokes and prods at our insecurities.

To rest in God’s love is to know that you are loved by someone bigger than this world, that God has your best interest at heart, and that God wants to show you goodness and kindness. I don’t think God is just waiting for you to mess up so that he can punish you. I think He is waiting with open arms so that when you do mess up, he’s ready to pick you up, wash you clean, and point you forward.

God desires your nearness.

But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him
Colossians 1:22

Reconciled is one of my favorite words to read in the Bible. To be reconciled is to be brought back into a right relationship with someone. Side Note:  It’s my favorite because as an Enneagram Nine peacemaker, I want everyone to be in a right relationship with everyone. We were God’s enemies, separated by sin, but He wanted us to be near Him again. He chose all the things that happened in order for us to be His children—His son coming to earth, His son dying as the payment for our sins, His son coming back alive so we would no longer fear death and separation.

God wants you near to Him—His actions show that. He could have left you separated from Him, but He chose a way that brings you back near. He wants your love and affection. More than your perfection, God desires your nearness.

God desires your rest.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

God’s grace is given out freely to anyone that asks for it. It’s not just given to those who think they can earn it, to the ones who look good on the outside, to the ones who follow all the rules put on them by men, or to the ones with power and money.

If God’s grace is given out so generously, then why do we still carry so many burdens? Life is hard, we shouldn’t make it harder by carrying loads that aren’t ours to carry. Are you working hard for the approval of others, for achievement and status, for perfection, or for recognition and power? Jesus says his load is light, so if your burden feels heavy ask if it’s because of your own expectations, the expectations of others, or the expectations of God.

God gives rest to those he loves. When you let go of fear of judgement (from God and others), you can live from a place of love. Remember this equation:  Love + Grace = Rest.

“I want to be gentle with myself and with others, and to remember that our life with Christ is measured not with boundary lines, right practice, or perfectly made decisions but only by the love that is experienced in the Trinity and handed out to us in abundance.”
–Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing, #

Results of Resting in God’s Love

Here are the benefits I have seen in my own life with this shifted focus from judgement and disappointment to love and grace:

1. Less stress over making the wrong decision. God is not a game show host, holding the correct answer on a card just out of your reach. He’s not waiting for your answer so that He can say, “Ooh, too bad. You were so close to winning an all expense paid trip to Heaven!” But He promises to be there no matter what you decide. When you know that God loves you, you feel less stress over every decision you must make.
2. Less worried about the opinions of others. When you know that you are loved by your good and perfect Creator, you are less worried about what other people think. Paul reminds us in Colossians that everything we do is for the Lord and not for people (3:23).
3. Less fear of making mistakes. Fear of doing the wrong things shouldn’t lead you to living a life of inaction—which isn’t actually living. You have been given freedom to do good, to love and serve others. Instead of hiding over fear of doing the wrong thing, live knowing that even if you mess up, your relationship with God is still there.
4. More confidence and freedom to be you. When you’re less worried about what others think and you know that God is not jumping at the chance to punish you, then you have more confidence to just be you. You are more brave and courageous to do what God has planned for you to do, to follow the desires that He has placed in you. You will come out of hiding and shine that light that He has put in you.
5. More trust in yourself and God. When you are in Christ, then God’s Spirit also lives in you. Trusting your own feelings, thoughts, or intuition instead of listening to outside voices, shows that you trust the way God made you. To trust your own Godly desires is to trust where God is leading you.

By leaning on God in prayer and Bible study and an awareness of His constant presence, you equip yourself to make good choices in your life. When you focus on the love that is already surrounding you, over the possible consequences of taking a misstep, you are free to live your life without fear. Your soul doesn’t want to stay hidden, it wants to feel loved and be free.

Father, help us to live more aware of your love that surrounds us and goes before us. Give us eyes that see your goodness. Soften our hardened hearts so that we may live free and light and open to receiving your love. Empower us to move with quiet confidence and gentle strength in your name. Guide our souls out of their hiding places.

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