Photo by Miriam G
By Mike Chaffin
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Some days it feels like I am pulled in multiple directions. Deadlines at work and conflicts with family add to the stress. Fatigue, stress, and burnout lurk just around the next phone call, work order to be done or conflict to resolve.
As we saw in the 38th verse article, when we come to God in faith, accepting Christ as our Savior, we are given peace with God. This peace gives us a sense of calm in the storm, a refuge to trust in. The 37th verse tells us we can come to Jesus when the work gets hard, and he will give us rest. He is telling us to bring our worries, our cares, our needs, to him in prayer.
Martin Luther once said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer. He was about the work of reforming the church, teaching, and preaching. He realized the importa nce of praying for God’s guidance and direction, and for the fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.
I like Isaiah’s description of Jesus’s directive when he wrote.
He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31 but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
We all want rest. Jesus offers us that rest. Paul told us to never tire of doing good. I know from personal experience that the joy one gets from doing good creates an energy that keeps the weariness away. As Jesus went on to say,
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. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30
Prayer: Dear Lord thank you for giving me strength and power when I come to you. You lift me up and renew me each day. Help me to do the work you have planned for me beforehand with joy and peace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
* There is a website that conducted a search for Bible verses. They compiled a list of the verses in order of the magnitude of hits they got in their search. Some of these verses probably qualify as ‘people’s favorites’, while others might be on the list because they are some of the most important and most teachable words of God.
