Tag: Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In last week’s post, I effectively asked the question, “Can we find our rest, in the work that we should be doing?“
This week’s post, I guess is part 2. 🙂

When we look at the bible passage above, we can see in verse 28 that a rest is available to us, if we are willing to go to Our Lord.
But do we read verses 29 and 30, in order to see how we can enter into the rest, that is available?

Verses 29 and 30 speak of a work to be done.
You don’t put a yoke onto on ox, and then send it out into a field to graze. You put a yoke onto an ox, because there is a work to be done, of some sort. To put a yoke onto an ox, to send it out, into a field to graze, just seems to be a bit mean, to me.

In verse 29, we can also see that we are meant to take on Our Lords yoke. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”. It matters, who we join ourselves to.
What or who, is the biggest influence, in our lives?

It may still seem a bit strange to associate rest with work, but I can’t, not see it anymore. As I continue to look at it, it just makes more sense to me.

Being yoked, means that a load is shared between the two, who are yoked together, so that a greater work, can then be done, than could be done by one alone.
Is this part of where the rest comes from?
Someone to share our burden with, as we work with, the One we are yoked to?

Being yoked, does mean that there is a need to remain at the same pace, working together. In verse 29, we can see that we are meant to take His yoke onto us and to learn from Him.
I clearly see this as us going at Our Lord’s pace, and not the other way around.

But what does this yoke actually look like?
Sometimes it may seem as if nothing has changed, even after trying to come to Our Lord. We can go through our week, just the same as we usually do, looking for a difference, but not seeing any.

But what if the difference is being yoked to Our Lord, with Our Lord setting our pace of how we should be going, whilst He bears the load with us?
Does He sometimes bear a greater load, than we realise?

If we are tired and weary, is it because there is an element of us trying to do things at our pace, using only our own strength?
If we try to do things at His pace, and relying on His strength to help us, is this where a restful state can then become a reality?

I shared these thoughts with a friend recently, and he said that he could see where I was coming from. He then went onto effectively say that, if he was mindful of Our Lord, by praying or just including The Lord in what he was doing, then things just kind of came together and worked.
But if he lost sight of The Lord, then he could end up being overloaded, and just chasing his tail.

It amazed me to hear a testimony from a friend, agreeing with the thoughts, that have been shared in this post.
Could we all have a similar testimony, if we all came to Our Lord God, and then took on His Yoke?
If we allowed Him to set our pace and let Him bear our load, with us?

Matthew 11:28-30
²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Yes, I know. The title of this post may seem to be a bit strange. Finding rest, in doing work???
But is there something to it? A yoke does imply that there is a work to do, of some sort.

I’m not suggesting that we go out and find as much work as we can, in order to find rest, that would be a recipe to be overburdened. But what if we can find a work, that brings about a rest?

I do think that we can see this, in action, in 1 Kings 17:7-16. It’s the account of when Elijah was fed by the widow at Zarepath.

There was a famine in the land, and God told Elijah to go to Zarepath, where God had instructed a widow to feed him. (1 Kings 17:9) There was only one problem with this plan. The widow had next to no food.
She was about to go home and make a final meal for herself and her son, and then die. (1 Kings 17:12)

She was not in a restful state, but one of desperation, as Elijah was asking her for some food, as God had directed him to.

How would we respond to a request, like Elijah’s?

“Are you for real? I have next to nothing, and the little that I do have, you want?” Could possibly be one of our reactions???

Fortunately, for all involved, the widow didn’t ultimately react in this way, but did make some food for Elijah, and then some for herself and her son. The result was, that her supply didn’t run out, but a miraculous provision occurred, as Elijah had spoken to her in…

1 Kings 17:14.
¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

The widow was appointed to provide for Elijah, by God.
In doing her work, she was provided for.
She saw rest, by doing a work, that she was meant to be doing.

Are we able to do likewise?
Can we see the work, that we are meant to be doing?
Then will we do it?
If we can and do, will it then lead to a rest, through doing a work?

One final thought on this is, we are told that she made food for Elijah, herself and her son. She didn’t provide food for everyone in Zarepath, just the ones she was meant to.
Can we sometimes miss our rest, because we take on more than we should do?