Come unto 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
Today we will continue to learn from Jesus and see other ways that He teaches us to find rest.
- Rest before a big decision. This next verse shows the importance of rest for the soul as a result of being yoked to God. One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he designated apostles. Luke 6:12-13 Jesus has one of the biggest decisions of His life ahead of Him. He is about to entrust the future of the Gospel to twelve men, and the success of the mission lands, to some degree, on whether or not He chooses well. What does He do? He spends the night in prayer asking God the Father for guidance and then He makes His decision. Now this may not look like rest; after all, Jesus stays up the whole night praying! But the point is that He takes time out of His crazy schedule to reflect and consult God before making a major decision. He isn’t so busy that He has no time to seek the will of the Father. We should follow this example whenever we have a life changing decision to make: moving from our home, taking on a new job, committing to a life change. Rest, reflection and consultation in Bible reading and prayer should not be pushed aside because we have no time.
- Setting boundaries. This is a hard one for many of us. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, ‘Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” Mark 6:30-31 Here Jesus sets an example for us of setting boundaries. The atmosphere is so busy with people coming and going that Jesus exhorts His disciples to come by themselves with Him to a place that is not so busy and to get some rest. Boundaries. This looks different in all of our lives. How are you in setting boundaries for yourself so that you get the rest Jesus knows you need?
- Rest for our souls through prayer. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. Mark 1:35 Jesus found rest for His soul through prayer. Come unto me…and I will give you rest. Just as Jesus came to the Father for rest for His soul, so we also need to be plugged into the source of our strength and power. It is as we come to Him through prayer and His Word that we will find rest for our souls. Have you ever noticed that the days you are busiest, IF you take time to pray and read the Bible, the whole day seems to clear and everything seems to get done without all the flurry of activity? Maybe it is an attitude change; maybe it is a change in our perspective. Maybe it is God orchestrating our days because we first came to Him. Regardless, let us not think that we will find rest for our souls in anything other than Him.
Come unto 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
A few very packed verses. I trust and pray that you will hear the invitation to come and in doing so will find rest for your souls. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light indeed.
Our song for today is Come As You Are by David Crowder.