Matthew 11:28-30 CEV If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. 29 Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. 30 This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.
This past week, I saw this passage in a devotional of some sort and I don't want to try and reiterate it without giving credit. Instead, I recognize that the Lord is speaking to me about His yoke because I read it again in my morning scripture time. Many times when I hear something more than once within a short time I see that I must pay attention because apparently I didn't get it the first time.
This morning as I read the scripture, it came with a new light. My family had a very difficult decision before us a few months ago to move to another town and accept a new job for my husband. We had several options at the time and wanted not just do the most lucrative thing, but what God was telling us to do. It is not an easy thing to make a decision of this magnitude. My response was to rest in Him. I immersed myself in worship and the word and just tried to remain in His presence through the whole process. In the end, our whole family was in unity about the decision and He gave us peace. Even though we liked a few of the other options, we knew in our hearts that we were doing His will.
In that experience I saw the fulfillment of Matthew 11:28-30. Without making little of the decision we were to make, I would say it was easier to give Jesus the decision burden than it is now to give him the labor burden. We are preparing our house to sell and packing for our move in just over 2 weeks and I am overwhelmed. Not just with work, but emotion of the work.
This is the only home my children have ever known. As a child I moved frequently and I've lived here for essentially 14 years. I've grown in our church family and in many ways, they know me more than my birth family. I love our kids' school and friends and community. I've invested my heart into the prayers for transformation of this area. There are many reasons that sound good to stay, but I trust that we made the right decision.
Now the work I must do physically to sell our home and move is before me. Actually, I've kept at a good pace and that in itself should not be overwhelming. I caught a nasty virus that has ailed me for about 10 days now and a few days, I was so drained that a walk across my house tired me and I would fall asleep wherever I ended up. During the height of my cold, I didn't read the Bible, I didn't turn on any music or sing, I just slept and survived.
It is beginning to sound like I'm blogging to complain about my woes, but if that is all that is conveyed, I've messed up or the reader has missed the point. The last few paragraphs explain all that I have taken upon myself. I've given Christ some of my burdens. The rest I've had recently was exhausted rest and not rest in Him. I am seeing as of this morning that God wants me to give all of these woes to Him. It is my burden that He has offered to share. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Lately I've believed a lie that I don't have time to devote to Kingdom things because I have a lot of physical preparations to make. Oh I have time alright, and I've wasted a bunch of it on other things. The "stress reliever" game that I play on my phone is not a burden reliever. Even as I felt compelled to share this revelation on a blog this morning, my mind told me that I don't have time to devote to this, but I would at least get it started. As soon as I opened the blog, my phone rang to postpone one of my morning obligations. Even typing or writing in a journal about His revelation is time meditating on Him and giving Him the burdens. If I give Him my time, He will give me the time I need to complete each task ahead without the weightiness it formerly had.
Matthew 6:25-26 CEV I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds?
