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Get Some Rest

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

So tell me if this sounds like your life:
"Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there" (Isaiah 28:11)
Sounds like mine. Just keep going and doing and making everyone happy and spreading yourself too thin and pretty soon you are feeling like you can't put one foot in front of the other and the next thing you know you are weary and burdened. Yes, I know it is poor sentence structure, but don't you just get tired reading it like that! It's a "run on" sentence. Just like us it keeps going and going. One thing I am learning - I am not the Energizer Bunny.

In the scripture in Matthew, Jesus gives us the picture of a yoke. A yoke is a wooden harness that fit over the shoulders of two oxen so they could pull some sort of equipment or cart. Doesn't seem like the sort of thing someone who is tired would want to do. But Jesus asks us to come to Him. Who? The weary and burdened. And do what? Take his yoke and LEARN FROM HIM. Somewhere along the years in a Bible study, I was taught that this is a picture of a young oxen being taught to use the yoke. It is placed over his head and he walks in it, but the stronger, older oxen is actually carrying the weight of the burdern. The younger oxen is learning from him, but not really doing any of the pulling.

Jesus says He will give us rest. Oh, how wonderful that sounds! So, what do you need to rest from? Are you burdened over an illness? A loved one who is away from the Lord? Sin in your life? A schedule that has you doing and doing and accomplishing nothing for the Kingdom? Maybe you are just striving on your own to live the Christian life and the burden of your own legalism is weighing you down. Whatever it is, just reach over and lay it on Jesus shoulders. You will still have it around you, but He will carry the weight. He will teach you how to walk in it. Best of all - He will give you a rest from carrying all that burden around all by yourself. 

I love what Jesus says about Himself in these verses. He wants to help us and teach us and He is gentle and humble in heart. I picture a gentle, patient teacher helping a child through a difficult lesson - because in essence that is what he is doing.

Psalm 23:1-3 "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul...."

We need to come to Him and let Him rest our souls. Restore our souls....

Mmmmmm...I'm feeling better already.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 27, 2013 at 8:49 AM

    Oh I I love this! I am trying to finish up my blog. It is similar to your approach and I love it!

    ReplyDelete

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