Rest in Him
“Come to Me, all you 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.” Matthew 11:28-30
Rest! It’s a good thing! It’s different than peace because peace is something that God gives, but rest is something we enter into, on purpose. Today’s scripture says (You) come to me, then I will give you rest. Glory to God! With all the struggle and anxieties in life, it’s so wonderful to have a place of rest, and that place is in Christ Jesus. A rest that we don’t have to wait for, we can enter in immediately. Whenever we are feeling the uneasiness of day-to-day life, and even when we are facing the stresses in life, we can easily enter in by getting quiet and submitting (unloading) everything to Him.
But how? How do you unload these burdens and get into the rest of my Savior, that God kind of rest? Jesus says in this passage “take My yoke on and learn from me.” A yoke? That sounds like more work. A yoke is not a reference we commonly use today, but in the days when Jesus was speaking, everyone could understand this picture. It was used to team up a pair of oxen and then attach them to a plow so they could work together to pull it. You may be saying, “that doesn’t sound very restful to me.” However, Jesus said, “get into the yoke with me and I will make your labor/burden easy and light”. He’s saying that I don’t have to struggle through life when I have attached my life to His, because when the hard times come, He pulls the load and carries the weight. My part is to enter into His rest.
There’s only one question left and that is how do I get into the yoke with Jesus? He answers that question for us. He says, “learn of me and of my gentle and lowly (humble) heart.” By becoming a person of humility, submitted to God and His word I can then enter into His rest. By turning all the care over and taking on God’s Word (Jesus) instead, I then enter in. This is where our relationship with the Lord grows. When we “get in the yoke” with Him, we are spending time with Him, talking to Him, walking with Him and trusting and speaking the promises of His Word.
Today I want to encourage you that no matter what you are going through, you don’t have to struggle. Enter into your Savior’s rest by getting into the “yoke” of life with Jesus. Humble yourself by submitting to and obeying His Word then apply it to all your circumstances. Let the force of God’s Word do the work on your troubles while you take a rest.
Today’s scripture reading: Matthew 11:25-30
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Daily Dose 