Do you ever feel like you're carrying an enormous burden...weary, and like the weight of life is sometimes too great for you? It's a rhetorical question. We all do. Our world is busy and often chaotic and we will sometimes have to endure burdens and weariness physically, psychologically and spiritually.
Last night I was reading a popular passage of scripture that speaks to this issue in Matthew chapter 11, and God was showing me some things through His Word that I felt inspired to share.
Jesus starts by making an invitation that applies to each and every one of us. If you don't feel weary today you are blessed, but it won't last forever. Burdens are inevitable and so is the weariness that follows. But secondly, Jesus gives us a promise: come to me and I will give you rest. When I picture rest I most often imagine laying down, but Jesus' next instruction is to take His yoke upon us, for He is gentle and humble in heart. Farmers used yokes to bind their oxen together so yokes came to represent labour, service and submission to authority. Why on earth is Jesus suggesting that we take a yoke upon ourselves in order to find rest? Well, before you can answer that you must consider what your burden is...
In the yoke analogy we would say that our burdens are tied to us and being carried behind us. On a basic level, labour is one of our many burdens. We all must work to provide for ourselves. And I believe that God has created each of us with unique talents and abilities, desires in our hearts and a certain sense of destiny as to what we want to accomplish in our lives. When you put all of that together, life is far from easy. Often our greatest sense of burden comes from our deepest dreams and the desire to fulfil them. Other burdens may be found in relationships; In our physical, mental, social and spiritual needs. In this life, we carry so much. So what about yoking myself with Jesus is going to give me rest from my burdens and weariness?
While I may be weak and incredibly limited, my Jesus is perfectly strong and infinite. Where I am limited in knowledge, my Jesus is perfect in wisdom. Though I will ceaselessly grow weary, when I am with Jesus I find rest for my soul. Why is that? Why can't I find that same level of rest on my own? I can try diet and exercise, drugs and alcohol, meditation, mysticism, spiritualism...nothing works. I think the absolute worst feeling we can experience as human beings is the feeling of loneliness. Why is that?...
Well, the answer is found in our Creator. When we look to the very beginning of scripture we see that we were created in God's likeness and created to live in an intimate and harmonious relationship with Him. That is why a piece of our soul will always be vacant and unfulfilled apart from the love of God. And because we once were so lost in legalism and religion, Jesus came to show us who God really is. All powerful, holy and righteous, but also full of love, mercy, grace and compassion - even for the greatest of sinners.
Why do I find rest when I yoke myself with Jesus Christ? Because I know how good He is. I know how much He loves me. And the thought that He would willingly yoke Himself with me and help me carry my burdens is unspeakably beautiful to me. He teaches me and guides me with gentleness and humility. As I read this passage of scripture and prayed, I pictured Jesus by my side as we were joined together by the same yoke. Not only does He unite Himself with me to help me and give me strength, but so that I won't wander away from Him and the beautiful life He has planned for me. And if I wander, He will pursue me forever until I turn back to Him. We are joined together carrying a large plough behind us, tilling the soil and working the field so that beautiful things might grow in our path...and He is smiling. He looks at me and smiles with so much love and delight. He gave His very life for this: for intimacy, that we might walk together always. And when my strength fails, He will carry me. Come hell or high water, He will never let me go.
Twice in this passage Jesus makes us a promise. Come to me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you...and you will find rest for your soul.
