Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

When I read this passage in Matthew, I knew that the Lord really wanted me to dive into it and see what it meant in my life. I’ve heard this last verse many of times in my life, but never really took the time to see what the Lord meant by this statement. In the context of this chapter, Jesus is speaking to crowds of people and he ends the time speaking to them with thanking the Father and telling the people where true rest is found.  We live in a busy, hectic world where we look for any chance to catch our breath and rest, even if it is just for a quick moment. We try to soak up as much as we can and we go until we can’t anymore, trying to rely on the little strength we have in our flesh. In this passage, Jesus talks not only about physical rest, but also spiritual rest. When we rest in Him it fills us to overflowing where we can now pour out to others. In Matthew 12:34 it says, “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” God wants and desires for us to let Him be the abundance and rest of our hearts so that all else flows from that place. This rest is attainable for those who are daily seeking the Lord and remembering who they are in comparison to who God is.

There are a lot of things I can accomplish in my flesh, but they will not be full of joy or love for who and what I’m doing it for. I focus on what the world sees the task as and don’t do it as unto the Lord in a loving act of service and worship to Him. When I try to do it on my own, it is a heavy and exhausting weight to bear. God wants to take it off of my shoulders and put it onto his own, giving me rest in Him. I, as a dead woman, have no ability to do or accomplish anything on my own, but He wants to teach me, from the new and abundant life He gives me, how to follow Him and do all things flowing from Him with all joy. I am to find rest in every area, seemingly big or small, of my life in the loving Father who has already bore all for me. My soul will only ever find rest in God and only in that rest can he really use me in the full capacity to which he sees for my life. Anything that is before me, I can do in the Lord’s name, in service and joy to Him because of the sacrifice He made for me  way before I was even born. I can have the assurance, by not being able to do it on my own, that I have a God who really does care because he desires to bring His goodness forth into my life so that I may have complete rest in His promises for my life. What a wonderful thing to cling to. Why would I want to believe that I have to do it on my own? Why would I expect anything of myself that I can’t attain? Why wouldn’t I just stop and realize how the Lord sees me and all he is giving me so that I may give that to others and see then that way also? All of these questions are answered with “I don’t know” because a life fully rested in the Lord sounds wonderful. It isn’t always going to be easy and it is a daily battle, but I NEVER have to face it or fight it on my own, God is right there with me, always.

In Psalm 27:13-14 David writes, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the LORD!” This is such an assurance that God’s goodness is in each day in all that we do, we just have to see with His eyes instead of worldly eyes. This is something I need to ask the Lord each day in every moment. I get to have courage in these truths and so do all of those who follow Him. During the time on tour, I haven’t seen all that I’ve been doing with the Lord’s eyes, but with my own fleshly eyes. Instead of being full of myself, I desire and want to be full of the Lord to overflowing where He uses me to pour out. He is asking me to take courage and find the only true rest I can ever have, in him and Him alone. No task or recognition can provide it for me and bring what I’m looking for. It doesn’t matter anymore, as long as I am walking with the Lord, there is no expectation, and there is a love and grace that is unmatched by anything else. It is in this that I shall find rest.

My application is to pray for eyes to see as He does for all people, all things, and tasks, and even myself.