Read the Psalm

From a place of humility, we open ourselves and receive God’s rest. Humility is required because restfulness of heart means that we have released control of outcomes, restfulness of body means that we know we have limits, and restfulness of mind means that we acknowledge there are things we don’t know. The first gift that God gave humanity was a day of rest in which labor would cease for twenty-four hours. In effect, God was saying: I will hold all of this while you let your body, mind, and heart rest.

Rest is usually not seen as a gift in our modern world but as something we earn. However, this is not the pattern we see in Scripture where rest is the place from which all else flows. In the creation, the design of a day was this: “there was evening and there was morning, the [next] day.” (Genesis 1) Still to this day, observers of Sabbath begin on Friday evening at sundown and go through the next day at sundown. The Biblical day begins with sleep and rest. In An Unhurried Life, Alan Fadling wrote: “We tend to see rest as the place we fall into after we’ve worn ourselves out with work. But what if our best work begins from a place of rest?”

Jesus invited us in our weary, heavy-laden states to come and find rest in Him: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Following Jesus is not burdensome but is grounded in love. As we experience the love of God, Zephaniah 3:17 suggests that our souls are quieted: “The LORD your God is in your midst … he will quiet you by his love.”

The image of this kind of rest is a “weaned child with its mother.” A weaned child is content and at peace, held by the mother. On the other hand, an un-weaned child wiggles and squirms, wondering when the next meal will be. The soul at rest has learned to trust in the love and provision the mother offers. 

Because of humility grounded in the love of God, the prayer of Psalm 131 describes two elements of rest: calmness and quietness of soul. The calm soul is one that has detached from anything but God. Our souls become turbulent or even agitated when we have disordered loves. When we are not attached to God as our core love but hold attachment to anything in the created order, our soul will struggle. We won’t be content because nothing else can satisfy but God alone. The quiet soul is uncluttered. When our souls are cluttered, we’ve allowed noise of various kinds to take up residency … being distracted by things that don’t matter. Restfulness of soul is ours as we simply notice and let go of resistances and distractions. 

Rooted in His love for us, we desire to release our clinging hands from anything other than God and we also desire to release distractions that would keep us from seeing and hearing Him. Then, from that place of calm and quiet, we are enabled to notice and respond to God’s love and presence in our lives. 

This place of restfulness of soul is what it means to love and be loved. In John 1:18, we read of Jesus: “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” “At the Father’s side” is literally, “in the bosom of the Father.” It is a picture not unlike Psalm 131. This is home. This is where we belong. Love leads us to humility which leads us to rest in the love of God.

Speaking of living in God’s love, Thomas Merton wrote: “It is only in this love that we at last become real. For it is here that we most truly share the life of One God in Three Persons … (who) infinitely transcends every shadow of selfishness.”

Reflection questions: in what ways are you not calm or quiet? What things are you resistant to release? What distractions might you be invited to release?

Prayer: Lord, by Your grace, I rest in Your love as I humble myself before You. I will calm and quiet my soul, knowing that I desire you more than all else. Amen.