“Come to Me, all who are weary, and heavy-laden, 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 SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My load is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Although I’d been born again for 9 yrs., by the time I was 40 yrs. old, my shoulders felt as if they were carrying the weight of the world upon them. This came about because of the choices made by others when I was a child, the choices made by me as a teen and as an adult, and the choices made by some who I mistakenly thought I could trust.
The one thing these choices had in common was the fact that they went against God’s Word and were fueled by pride, fear, lies, self-reliance, and undealt emotions. Some of the choices were of course outside of my control; but I still took on the burden of either protecting my fellow victims such as my younger siblings, my own children, and other relationships. I became a “fixer” of all, as a way of not dealing with my own pain.
It took me many years to realize this Truth: I WAS NOT CREATED TO CARRY THE BURDENS OF THE WORLD; ONLY JESUS CAN DO THAT! It was God Himself who opened my eyes and at the exact time He knew I’d be ready to learn how to let go of all the weight that was literally ever so slowly killing me from the inside out. To learn how to DAILY place my good & bad choices, as well as those choices of others that would affect me directly, into His hands and how to leave them there for Him to deal with. He also eventually taught me how to be there for others, and yet not place their burdens on my own shoulders.
He used Matthew 11:28-30; which would become my “Forever Verse” to get me to see that it is Jesus, and Jesus alone who was created to carry the burdens of this world. But first, I needed to learn how to follow. Up to this point, I was unaware that I had been pridefully allowing Jesus to only be my co-pilot. I tried to do all the driving by controlling my circumstances and that of those I loved; which often were filled with consequences from the ill choices I’d already made. It was like slapping band-aids on a bleeding main artery and I was losing the battle fast. I’m grateful to God every day that He first showed me what I was doing, then how to stop doing it, and that it would all be safe in His hands.
“Come to Me” is the first place we can find peace. When we come to Jesus and surrender all to Him, not just speak the words, but literally picture ourselves laying our past, present, & future lives at His feet, peace will become ours. “Take My yoke” is His invitation to carry for us, every burden we’ve ever tried to carry or will feel the temptation to carry. It wasn’t easy at first for me to release them… I’ve been doing it my way for too long. But He was and is ever so patient and the Truth is, God is the only One who has the strength and the knowledge to carry our burdens and the burdens of this world to their proper place and with the perfectly timed revelation of their purpose. We see this Truth in Romans 8:28; “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
The most important part of Jesus’ invitation comes immediately after take My yolk, when He says, “and learn from Me.” What I learned most is how to trust Him. Trusting Him with our burdens is what will allow us to not just pick them back up when things get tough. And, I must admit that this was the hardest for me to learn. Because of past hurts, trust was not easy for me, but He never broke His promise of the rest of verse 29, & 30: “for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My load is light.”
Jesus promises to lead us not only in the surrendering of our burdens, but in learning how to peacefully trust Him with them, and He promises to lead us through them. I’m so grateful that I can testify that He has truly given me restful peace in return to me giving Him full control to be my Driver, Leader, Provider, Burden Carrier, and Savior.
Annette Enkhorn