| Do you believe this promise?
“I will give you rest.”
Do you believe God truly offers rest to
anyone and everyone who carries a heavy burden? What burden are you
carrying right now? What concerns kept you tossing and turning last
night? What problems are you dragging around like a ball and chain?
Have you ever seen on TV the World’s strongest man competition?
There are about twenty men competing in ten or twelve events that test the
competitor’s strength. In one of the events a man is harnessed to a
bus and he has to pull the bus as far as he can up an incline road.
Can you picture that scene in your mind?
I doubt very much that if we were to hold such a competition outside on
Main Street that anyone of us would give it a try. Yet the truth is
we do it everyday. We harness ourselves to our problems, our fears,
and our worries. Along with putting on our clothes in the morning we put
on the burdens of daily work, of emotional stress, of facing tomorrow not
knowing what tomorrow will bring and of grief. The weight of these
concerns and burdens are so heavy that we might as well be harnessed to a
bus.
What happened to Jesus’ promise?
“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
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.”
Why is it that we don’t trade our burdens for Jesus’ yoke? Perhaps Paul
best summarizes our actions, “I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very things I hate.”
I am certain there is not a single person in this sanctuary who wants to
worry, who wants to be fearful, who wants
the burdens of life to put pressure on their heart, their
mind and their spirit. So why is it that we do? There is a
story in the Clergy Journal that might help us understand why we do?
The story is of young woman who was fighting cancer for a third time.
She had beaten it twice before and like they did before the family prayed
that she would beat it a third time. They prayed and prayed and it
was evident that she would lose this battle. As I read the
story I remember being with a Hospice family who were in a similar
situation as this young woman. I don’t know which was more
painful, watching the patient’s pain or watching the family’s pain as they
held on to the hope that God would give them a miracle. In spite of
the fact that the cancer was brought in remission two previous times,
because it didn’t this third time certain family members questioned God
and God’s ability to provide rest.
“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,”
It is important to make a
distinct between casting your burdens upon God AND casting your
expectations on God. Jesus takes on the yoke of our burdens, not the hope
of our expectations. Casting your burdens upon God is not a
guarantee that God will give you the outcome that you desire.
Casting your burdens on God is an exchange of yokes. Instead
of being yoked to your burdens, you become yoked with the love, healing
and peace of God. This is what God guarantees.
Instead of thinking of this yoke in terms of a heavy wooden harness that
is fit over the shoulders of oxen or livestock. Think of this yoke in
terms of a bicycle built for two. Allow God to have the front seat
and you take your rightful place behind God. And then stop
trying to steer. Let God do the steering. When you yoke
yourself with God you are agreeing to merge your life and will with His
will.
You will find that making such a yoke will change your life from
meaningless and wearisome toil into a spiritual productive and purposeful
life.
“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.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.”
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