Rest in Jesus
‘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
Over the Christmas break this verse has meant so very much to me, so I wanted to really understand its meaning and study it.
Firstly, yoke is mentioned in over 60 scriptures of the Bible and is used to connotate slavery, servitude or service.
What is more, a yoke is a wooden collar that is placed on an animal so that the owner can control it, a means to allow the driver to direct the animal. Often the yoke is wide enough for 2 collars for 2 animals, so these animals would be yoked together and it would bring them under submission, enabling them to do the work the farmer has for them. Animals that are yoked together could do more work than independent of each other. To train younger animals, farmers would yoke them together with bigger, older more experienced animals so the big animal could carry the burden while training the younger one to carry the load. It provided maturation and development. In other words, the younger animal often had a lighter or easier yoke during its training years. The really cool thing is that 1 ox can pull his own bodyweight, 2 oxen can pull up to 3x their bodyweight but when they are trained and listening to their master, they can pull up to 10x their bodyweight in small bursts.
Jesus in these verses in Matthew 11, invites us to hook up to Him as a disciple. He says, ‘take up my yoke and learn from me.’ Hooking up to Jesus’ yoke enables us to learn how to live. Not only to adopt His theology or ethics but His whole lifestyle. To follow His way. Therein you will find rest. Jesus wants to lighten the load you have been carrying all by yourself and give you rest. Jesus is saying here that He is good and His way of life is good not burdensome or difficult.
Sometimes we can be carrying burdens we were never meant to carry.
Recently, God spoke to me about something I have been carrying. He said, ‘what you carry is not My yoke but another yoke. That’s the reason you are weary and burdened because you carry a burden you shouldn’t be carrying. It is not your responsibility but Mine. Let this go and give it to Me. Give this situation to Me and come to Me and you will find rest for your soul.’
I found that it is a choice, a choice we make every day to be the big animal and carry all the weight or be the small animal and let Jesus carry it for us.
When we wake up every day we can choose to fight for the lighter burden or accept the heavy one. Sometimes we may need to make that choice several times a day. To keep putting that burden back down every time we need to and trust God.
In these verses, Jesus doesn’t offer us an escape, He offers us something better; equipment.
He offers us His followers, His apprentices a whole new way of bearing the weight of our lives, with ease at His side. Like 2 oxen in a field, tied shoulder to shoulder. With Jesus doing all the heavy lifting at his pace, slow, unhurried, full of love joy and peace.
Inward Prayer: Lord, please reveal to me if there is anything I am carrying that I am not meant to carry. Help me to release it and come alongside You.
Outward prayer: Lord, thank you that we can rest in You. May my life be an example to others not of weariness and struggle, but of ease in You.
Over the Christmas break this verse has meant so very much to me, so I wanted to really understand its meaning and study it.
Firstly, yoke is mentioned in over 60 scriptures of the Bible and is used to connotate slavery, servitude or service.
What is more, a yoke is a wooden collar that is placed on an animal so that the owner can control it, a means to allow the driver to direct the animal. Often the yoke is wide enough for 2 collars for 2 animals, so these animals would be yoked together and it would bring them under submission, enabling them to do the work the farmer has for them. Animals that are yoked together could do more work than independent of each other. To train younger animals, farmers would yoke them together with bigger, older more experienced animals so the big animal could carry the burden while training the younger one to carry the load. It provided maturation and development. In other words, the younger animal often had a lighter or easier yoke during its training years. The really cool thing is that 1 ox can pull his own bodyweight, 2 oxen can pull up to 3x their bodyweight but when they are trained and listening to their master, they can pull up to 10x their bodyweight in small bursts.
Jesus in these verses in Matthew 11, invites us to hook up to Him as a disciple. He says, ‘take up my yoke and learn from me.’ Hooking up to Jesus’ yoke enables us to learn how to live. Not only to adopt His theology or ethics but His whole lifestyle. To follow His way. Therein you will find rest. Jesus wants to lighten the load you have been carrying all by yourself and give you rest. Jesus is saying here that He is good and His way of life is good not burdensome or difficult.
Sometimes we can be carrying burdens we were never meant to carry.
Recently, God spoke to me about something I have been carrying. He said, ‘what you carry is not My yoke but another yoke. That’s the reason you are weary and burdened because you carry a burden you shouldn’t be carrying. It is not your responsibility but Mine. Let this go and give it to Me. Give this situation to Me and come to Me and you will find rest for your soul.’
I found that it is a choice, a choice we make every day to be the big animal and carry all the weight or be the small animal and let Jesus carry it for us.
When we wake up every day we can choose to fight for the lighter burden or accept the heavy one. Sometimes we may need to make that choice several times a day. To keep putting that burden back down every time we need to and trust God.
In these verses, Jesus doesn’t offer us an escape, He offers us something better; equipment.
He offers us His followers, His apprentices a whole new way of bearing the weight of our lives, with ease at His side. Like 2 oxen in a field, tied shoulder to shoulder. With Jesus doing all the heavy lifting at his pace, slow, unhurried, full of love joy and peace.
- Hannah Heinke
Inward Prayer: Lord, please reveal to me if there is anything I am carrying that I am not meant to carry. Help me to release it and come alongside You.
Outward prayer: Lord, thank you that we can rest in You. May my life be an example to others not of weariness and struggle, but of ease in You.
Posted in Prayer and Fasting Jan 22
1 Comment
Amen in Jesus Name!!! 🙏🏽