“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.
As I petition God for a closer walk with Him, He brought a few scriptures to memory and the above was one of them. Jesus knows all about our lives and what’s going to happen on our journey. That is why He makes provisions on our behalf. Take for instance His grace and mercy in times of trouble…trouble in which we’ve placed ourselves. God delivers. But let us focus on the trials we endure because of the faith in Christ, that’s what this scripture is specifically speaking of.
Our daily walk with the Lord can be challenging at times. It’s not because of our faith, and it’s not because of our willingness to serve (at least I’ll speak for myself); rather it’s because of the enemy. The enemy can reside anywhere he’s welcomed. It could be a coworker bringing him into the office every day. It could be through a degrading email crossing your path, a voice message, or even a close family member. But God knows all about it for He says in His word, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
There may be times when we just need to rest. Not from our faith, but away from the wiles of the enemy. The reason I say this is because when we go out into the world to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not everyone is going to accept Him. This is not our burden. We can’t save anybody, only Christ can. We introduce them to our King, our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit does the rest. It is important to meditate on God’s word during our time of rest. The time of rest is not about sitting in the house and not doing anything. It’s about praying and seeking the face of God. It's about relaxing in that place of refuge.
Do you remember when you were a child and were hurt either physically or emotionally by someone? Where did you go? For most of us, we probably ran to our parents because that’s where we found solace and comforting. There was a break from the pain and an embrace of love. This is the rest Jesus was speaking of.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Here Jesus explains how we can come to Him. Again, He is speaking to those who are doing His will. He’s not going to call an unsaved person to rest…what would they be resting from? He is speaking to believers who have been beat up by the world for their faith in Him. We learn more about God by being Christ-like—meek and lowly in heart. What exactly does that mean? To be meek is to be gentle, kind, temperate; and lowly means to be humble and modest. Are we displaying behavior like this? Are we angry all of the time, are we accusatory and never take responsibility for anything? Are we willing to lend a helping hand, or just ready to kick another brother or sister down? We must take on His yoke. Many describe Jesus as the perfect gentleman. And this is where He tells us we’ll find rest for our souls. His yoke is a lot more tolerable than the ones we create for ourselves.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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