“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.” Matthew 11:28-30
It is a long road home. Many times I have wondered how I will make it there. Between my doubts, fears, anxieties and frankly, laziness, it has often seemed hopeless. I am an Israelite of old, wandering this wilderness, because of my fear, my stubborn lack of trust in God.
Yet he longs to bring me home–to the promised land. He wants to conquer all of my enemies and land me safe on the other side. This is his unrelenting desire. He’s given what is most dear to Him, his only Son, to ensure it.
But how? How can we walk this road knowing so much is against us. While there is much battle to be done, the answer is surprising. Rest. This is how we make it home. We rest.
When we come in humility and brokenness, God will never cast us away. Jesus pleads through the pages of Matthew for us to come to Him. He is not asking us to come for the reprimand–the declaration of our failure. But rather, He is calling us into the soft flesh of His heart. He is saying ‘my arms are open wide. I see every bit of your weariness. I see all that weighs you down. And I bid you ‘come”.
But still, how? We hear the call and we want this. Yet how do we actually obtain that rest? We feel like there are claws in us carrying all that shame and fear. So how do we rest?
We receive. We give up the fight. We say ‘I cannot do it anymore on my own. I need you, your rest.’ We take his yoke upon us. His posture becomes our own. Here we find rest because the fight has already been fought by him. He has born the weight of all the world. The sin, shame, fear and wrath of God are under His feet. And he did it all through meekness and humility–surrendering to the greater will of the Father.
Here, friend, is where freedom comes. We utterly lose ourselves, abandoned in Him. We stop caring about propping ourselves up, standing on our own, because this life is teaching us that we cannot. We make the journey home by tucking ourselves into the folds of His heart which will never, ever fail us.
If you really think about it–giving up the fight–can’t you just feel the rest? There is so much energy involved in making it on our own. We contort ourselves into the one we think will win the fight. But all that happens is a lot of pain and soul frustration that we can’t get there.
‘Come’. It’s one of the most beautiful commands. It’s irresistible. Especially because it is Him. The praise of all Eternity. The most beautiful that has ever been. The worthy One. The precious Lamb slain. The Lion victorious.
He longs to show us the way. He longs to find us giving up on our way. He longs for that hideous yoke meant to destroy us, to be cast away. He longs to give us what only He can–a humility that conquered all that is fallen. He longs to bring us Home.
This journey I have been walking, has undone me to the last possible thread. I have lain naked before my enemies. The whip has cracked and I have bled. Yet, there is so much beauty. A whole new way of living has opened up for me because of the crushing of myself. I am finding, here, on the other side, the beauty of humility. I am finding the joy of the weary who have nothing left to clothe themselves with. I am finding arms as solid and sure as the God who made me. I am finding my way home.
My heart is pleading for you, friend. Are you coming into the sweet delight of Him? Are you surrendering all that you cannot do on your own to the One who has done it all? Are you finding rest, arms, that will hold you all of the way till you are safe on the other side?
Let’s walk this pilgrim way together. Let’s be the fellowship of the broken. Let’s become the peace this world so desperately needs. And let’s love each other in it, so none of us forgets the only true way Home.
