Invitation: Come, I will give you rest

But God welcomes our burdens

Matthew 11:28-30 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

We thought our orchid had reached its end. But look how it surprised us! It’s been blooming for weeks!

These precious words are so familiar that I’m tempted to let them flow past me without in fact responding to Jesus’ invitation. But my husband is taking these verses seriously, so I’m starting to ask questions of the text. You’ll probably have your own questions.

Is it really possible to find rest for my soul?

How on earth can I exchange my weariness and my heavy burdens for his light one?

Am I capable of learning humility and gentleness?

How can life in this hurting, broken world be “easy to bear”?

Did you notice that all these questions are me-centered? That’s because I skip right over Jesus’s invitation!

When I go back to what matters—Jesus saying, “Come to me … I will give you rest … Take my yoke … Let me teach you …” the answers to my questions are obvious. I can’t do these things on my own. But I don’t have to. What I need to do is lay my burdens at his feet. Place my fears, anxieties, frustrations, confusion in his hands. Wait on him to give me his peace and rest.

This requires of me humility and the gentleness that comes from slowing down enough to reveal and name and submit the jumble and woundedness of my soul to him.

I can’t bear the weight and grief of the world. But he can. And he can show me the tiny little piece of it that he gives me to share with him. And the strength for that tiny little piece.

Aren’t you in awe of the wisdom and strength and patience he has?

“Come, All Who Are Weary,” Porter’s Gate

Lyrics:

1.Come, all who are weary, I will give you rest.

Come, all who are striving, lean upon my breast;

For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

O come, all who are weary, come.

2.Come, all who are wounded, crying out “How long?”

Come, all who are waiting for the break of dawn.

Darkness will not hide me forever from your sight.

O come, all who are wounded, come.

3.Come, all who are weeping, all whose hope is gone.

Come, all who are silent, all who’ve lost their song.

Your every tear is numbered, your every sorrow known.

O come, all who are weeping, come.

Tag: O come, all who are weary, wounded, and weeping.

        All of God’s children, come.