Defining the Soul: The soul is the deepest part of who you are, the "integration center" that weaves together your thoughts, feelings, choices, body, and social context. It is who you are, while your body is just a vehicle for it. God did not give Adam a soul; he became a living soul, as seen in Genesis 2:7 (ESV) where "nephesh" is translated as "living creature" or "living soul". Your soul exists without your body, but your body cannot exist without your soul. The soul is made by God, for God, and to need God. It is the part of you that is from God and inherently seeks its source, finding true rest only when focused on Him.

The Exhaustion of Hiding: Despite God's intimate knowledge, we often live as if we are not known, which leads to profound exhaustion. This habit of hiding goes back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned (Genesis 3:8). Sin "drinks up the spirit and all the vigor of the soul" and darkens communion with God. The sermon highlights several "hiding spots," including perfectionism, people-pleasing, secret-keeping, and busyness, all of which are attempts to hide from our flaws and avoid vulnerability. This hiding is a "self-imposed prison".

The Solution: Finding Rest in Being Fully Known: The solution is to find rest in the "liberating truth that we are already fully known and yet deeply loved". Psalm 139 serves as a "breathtaking declaration" of God's intimate knowledge and inescapable presence. There is nowhere we can go to escape His presence, as described in Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV). This truth is a promise, not a threat, that nothing can put you outside of His presence or beyond His loving gaze. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), and even our deepest flaws are known to the One who designed us. Jesus invites us to stop pretending and find rest in Him by surrendering the heavy burdens of hiding and performance (Matthew 11:28-30).

The four ways we tend to hide are:

• The Perfectionist's Burden: Striving tirelessly to be flawless because we believe our worth is tied to our achievements and external approval. We fear any mistake will reveal our inadequacy. This is a "left-half" strategy that starves the "right half" of our soul which longs for unconditional love.

• The People-Pleaser's Fatigue: Constantly adjusting ourselves to fit others' expectations, losing touch with our authentic selves because disapproval is unbearable. This is an idolatry, seeking intimacy from people instead of from God.

• The Secret Keeper's Isolation: Carrying burdens and past hurts in silence, convinced that revealing them would lead to rejection or judgment. This leads to deep loneliness. Shame and guilt are the tools of the enemy, and this hiding isolates the part of our soul that longs for vulnerability and intimacy.

• The Busy Achiever's Restlessness: Filling our lives with constant activity to avoid confronting the parts of ourselves we don't want to see or the emptiness we're trying to outrun. This is a "left-half" distraction that avoids the deeper, often uncomfortable, emotional and relational work of the "right half".