“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 is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Are you weary? Do the cares of life seem to weigh heavy on your shoulders? Has your situation made you feel as if you can hardly put one foot in front of the other? Oh, maybe not physically. But you just don’t know how you can go on another week, another day, trusting that God will help. After all, He hasn’t seemed to act in your situation yet. How much longer do you have to wait? How long do you need to carry this burden? In those times, these verses can feel like a drink of cool water on a blistering hot day. So let’s take a closer look at them and see what God has promised – and what He hasn’t.
First, He tells us to come. He never forces us. He’s not telling a wayward child to get over here or else! He’s giving an invitation. Is the sun beating down too hard on your hot head? He’s inviting you into the shade. Are your legs about to buckle from the weight? He’s inviting you to sit. You don’t have to. If you want to keep carrying your burden all alone, He won’t stop you. And He won’t rescind the invitation, either. Anytime you decide to accept His help, He’ll be there, ready and waiting with that drink of cool, clear water.
He has promised us rest. There are times when I think that His rest must be a mirage in the desert because I’ve been struggling for so long that I can’t hardly believe it’s possible to be relieved of my burden. But that’s what He’s promised. But He didn’t promise that we’ll be burdenless. He doesn’t say to lay down our yokes and He will carry them for us. What He’s offering is to take the yoke the world has laid on us and replace it with His yoke. Why would we want to do that? What’s the point in just trading one burden for another? Let’s look at who’s giving us those yokes. The yoke of the world is actually from Satan, the one who has come to steal and kill and destroy. He’ll keep piling the weight on us until we collapse under the strain. But the other yoke is from the Savior of our souls, the One Who died to save us from the yoke of sin and death. His yoke is easy. It’s light. It’s not something that will crush us. Rather, it will be a joy to carry His yoke.
I need to ask myself whose yoke I’m carrying. Am I trying to meet the world’s standards? Am I living in fear and worry? Am I concerned about receiving my fair reward for my work? All of these are signs that I’m carrying the world’s burden, a burden that will become too heavy for me. But if I’m living in the peace that can only come from Christ, if I have joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances, if my truest heart’s desire is to grow closer to Christ, then I have exchanged the unbearable yoke for one that promises the true rest that comes only from Christ.