How to Handle Your Weary Soul
Matthew 11:28-29
“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.”
I do not often think of these two verses, but they are important verses for all modern day, 21st century people. We ae the people who try to juggle family, career, cleaning house, continuing education, taking care of loved ones, travel, smart phones, computers, keeping up with social media, crazy weird political campaigns . . . . and the list goes on and on. “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened.”
According to dictionary.com weary is defined as “physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, fatigue, tired.” It defines burdened as “that which is borne with difficulty, obligation; or to load heavily or load oppressively; trouble.”
The weariness that Jesus speaks of is the kind that sleep alone won’t cure. It’s that deep, deep down weariness that doesn’t come from a hard day of work, but rather from carrying a load of concern of stress that is too much to bear. My guess is all of us have experienced that kind of tired at one time in our lives. Some may even get to that place of weariness more often than we would like to admit. I hope none of us are always living in that state. Where ever you are on that continuum, the scriptures offer us hope!
No matter the cause of that weariness or the source of the burden, go to Jesus. It doesn’t matter if we caused the problem by our sin or poor judgment. It doesn’t matter if our weariness and heavy burdens are caused by caring for a loved one, working more than 40 hours a week to make ends meet, or going through a grief-filled crisis. In every situation Jesus tells us to come to Him.
Too often in life when we are weary or burdened our instinct is to turn to something in this world for help. That only added to the pressure we feel. There are times when we think if we work a little harder or stand a little stronger, we will be able to handle it. But that attitude just piles on more burdens – instead of becoming stronger, we become weaker. Sometimes, in order to avoid the load, we start down a path that leads to places we don’t want to go. Often there are times we add to the already heavy load by heaping on guilt. We tell ourselves that we should be able to handle the heavy burdens we are carrying. But Jesus doesn’t condemn or blame or ridicule! He simply says, “come to me and I will give you rest.” Only Jesus can give the kind of rest that heals the spirit.
Then He says, “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Jesus is telling us to be harnessed to His yoke. If we go to Him, He put us in a position where He will lift the load from us. He won’t put any more on us. He says He’s gentle and humble in heart. His yoke will not add to our burden nor cause us to be more weary. He gives us rest by sharing the burden of the yoke. When we are overwhelmed, tired and burdened, His yoke offers a deep rest from this life. Will you trust Him and go to Him for rest?