To Live and Love From a Place of Rest - Day Two

Day Two:

Yes, My Soul, Find Rest in God.

Psalm 62.1-7

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    

     my salvation comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    

     he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

How long will you assault me?
    

     Would all of you throw me down—

     this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

Surely they intend to topple me
    

     from my lofty place;
    

     they take delight in lies.


With their mouths they bless,
    

     but in their hearts they curse.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    

     my hope comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    

      he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    

     he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

David testifies that soul rest is found in God.

David’s story includes betrayal, brutality, unspeakable violence. It also includes and the beauty

and intimacy of being connected “soul to soul.” 1

The setting of this Psalm is unknown; it has been noted that David may have written it in his

older years as a response to his son, Absalom’s rebellion.

How can a soul be at rest when your kid is trying to kill you?

Rest amid assault.

Rest amid subversive attacks.

Rest amid overthrow.

Rest amid lies.

Rest amid curses.

Rest amid disengagement.

David confesses each of the ways his heart has been broken. He doesn’t pretend he’s got it all

together or defend himself, nor does he minimize the hurt. Instead, he honors it. He names it.

Privately and corporately, David holds his pain in prayer before God.

The old King James says, “That the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” 1 Samuel 18.1

Knowing David’s life as described in Scripture, I sense that this hurt accompanies him in

sleeping and waking. While forgiveness and blessing form and shape his life, especially as he

ages, he doesn’t forget. David can’t forget. The consequences of his own sin and the sins

splashed on him are ever before him. They may sift, ebb, and flow but are never deleted from the soul.

Notice where and in whom David finds rest. David finds rest amid life’s joys and sorrows. He

prays, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my salvation comes from you.”

Confession: I had this idea of soul rest wrong for a really long time. I totally missed it. All this

time, soul rest felt so elusive. Because all this time, I missed the source from which soul rest

came.

I thought soul rest would be a place, a space where, with childlike amazement and wonder, I’d

sing and dance gleefully inside the front gates of the new Eden. I wrongly understood soul rest to

be contingent upon peaceful relationships. If Kristy wasn’t at rest, or Adele or AGB were

struggling, if I was being assaulted, lied to, or lied about, or if I felt the undefinable pain of

disengagement, I could not be at rest. I would be anything but at rest.  

Gosh, I was wrong. And man was it tiring.

David frames rest in a way that regardless of whether his wife Bathsheba is well or his kingdom

isn’t thriving, or none of his kids made Varsity, rest is possible “in the midst of.” David makes it

clear that it is possible to live a life of soul rest even if those around you are not.

I recently sat with a couple in their sunset years. They came exhausted and exasperated,

completely burned out. They, too, have experienced many of these very human and sinful

dynamics, resulting in deep wounding. Some were caused by their own sin, and some by the sin

of others, the most painful wounds caused by those they loved most intimately.

They shared their story of a life-long cycle of wounds that opened, closed, healed, touched again,

reopened, closed, healed, and then reopened. They confessed to being enslaved to their

standards, striving and grasping at seemingly any spiritual solution. Finally, in sheer self-

protection, they shut themselves off from everyone, including each other. 

Hearing and feeling their story, I was reminded hurt has no demographic, family history, or

affiliation. Hurt has no age limit. In the case of this couple, it’s more accurate to say some hurt

only becomes more painful as they age.

Weariness comes from trying to carry all of this alone, burying it, pretending, or…

This couple realized they must have had it wrong, too. So, like David, they chose to open up.

After all these years, they allowed their hurt to be seen, heard, and known. They chose to allow

their very selves to be known. With great courage and vulnerability, a generations-long battle

with unhealed trauma that led to a pervasive sense of shame was named. Because they believed

that sitting around this little table and being honest, even for the first time, was their last hope

and may provide a pathway to healing, they chose to share everything.

As they told their story and after a few moments of a sacred stillness, this couple experienced the

most profound expression of love they’d ever known.

Healing, wholeness, holiness—soul rest is not bound by time and space, hurt, or age. It’s in our

midst, right here, right now.

Prayer: Let’s pray along with David.

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    

     my salvation comes from you.

Psalm 62.1

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