Ever been so tired you can’t hold your head up?
I remember the early months of feeding my newborn baby through the night.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I remember crying to my husband.
“I can’t even lift my arms to hold him.”
Fatigue is tough.
But, even more than sleep, when we’re tired we long for the sweet presence of God.
We want that unmistakeable peace that will help us rest well.
I find these words from Jesus such a comfort:
“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)
Pastor Jim Shaddix describes the yoke as “the instrument used to bring the strength of two animals together in order to pull a load that was impossible for one animal to pull on its own.”
He says Jesus was speaking to a group of people who’d been trying to carry a very heavy load – namely the Jewish law and other standards imposed upon them by the religious leaders of the day.
In the language of the New Testament, the words carried the idea of working to the point of utter exhaustion.
What are you exhausted from?
What burdens are you trying to carry on your own?
Let God help you pull the load.
He will aid us in our “utter exhaustion” and show us the easier way.
The lighter load.
The one filled with peace and grace, promise and purpose.
He will set us free and lift up our heads.
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear…” (Psalm 3:3-6)
It's a God thing... 