Rest for the Weary

Sickness, late nights, and the relentless tedium of maintaining a household have made me exceedingly weary lately, both emotionally and physically. Example: It is 3:30 in the afternoon as I write this and I am still in my pajamas.

As I struggle to put one bare foot in front of the other I have been meditating on Matthew 11.28-9 in which Christ says: “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden 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."

A couple of things strike me about this passage. First, Christ’s invitation – “Come to me” – is also a command. Secondly it is a command for a specific kind of person – those, like me, who are “weary and heavy-laden;” or, as another translation puts it, “those that labor and are heavy-laden.” Christ goes further by commanding me to take up His yoke and learn from Him, promising He is gentle and humble in heart and that I will find rest for my soul…

The phrasing of this verse seems to beg comparison with Christ’s rebuke of the Pharisees, the religious establishment of his time: "And you experts in the law,” He said, “woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them” (Luke 11.46). The religious leaders of Christ’s day used their authority to belittle and condemn the people beneath them. In stark contrast, Christ used his authority to serve… He did all the heavy lifting, spiritually speaking, by carrying the burden of my sin and receiving my punishment on the cross. Isaiah 53.6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all.”

So I am lowly and humble in two ways: first, as Isaiah 53 points out, Christ bore the burden that I could not; and second, per Matthew 11.28, I am weary and heavy laden. On a basal level, both of these things work to discourage me from any thought of approaching the almighty God…

However God must have understood my humility for He sent His Son to come to earth in human form; to subject himself to the laws of nature, to hunger and cold, frailty and fatigue. It also required humility for Christ to take interest in human beings… to care whether the five thousand families who came to listen to him speak had eaten before beginning their journey home … to allow a former prostitute to wash his feet with her hair…

He became low and humble so that we who are so low and humble can approach Him.

Not only so but He promises to take we who are low and humble and exalt us to high estate…if not in this life, then in the one to come. “He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,” says Mary, shortly after learning she has been chosen to bear the Messiah, “for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed…” (Luke 1.52).

The theme of humility preceding exaltation is pervasive throughout Scripture. James 4.6 says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Perhaps my favorite is 1 Peter 5.10: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

The same Christ who is “all-mighty,” who is now seated “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given” (Eph.1.21) implores me to cast all my cares on him, believing that he harbors “affectionate concern” for me…

It awes me to imagine that I serve a God who will take my admission of weakness and frailty not as an ending point, but a beginning… As if He is saying, “Come to me, Heather. Rest in me, and watch what wonders I can and will accomplish through you.”

The word for rest connotes “cessation,” or, an ending to wearisome work. But the New Testament is filled with examples of men like the apostle Paul who labored ceaselessly for God… So my resting in God does not mean a cessation of my labor. In fact, Christ says notably that by coming to Him I will find rest for my soul, not my body… Thus while there may be no end to the work of my hands, it seems there is or can be an inner cessation; a quietness and rest of soul that exists and can be maintained in spite of my outward activity.

Interestingly, the Greek word for soul, psyche, is unlike the English word in that it is considered “the seat of the feelings, desires, affections” and not just the nonphysical aspect of a person. This reinforces the idea that Christ is offering me emotional rest, rest from my anxieties and concerns, and not what I am tempted to compartmentalize and turn into an abstract spiritual rest that has no real relevance to the cares of my everyday life.

Oh, Lord, teach me what it means to take up your yoke… let me surrender my concerns and be taken up with your concerns, trusting you to accomplish what you deem best both in and through me… there is little in my life that feels “easy” or “light;” and yet you promise me that your yoke is both of these things… teach me what this means; and show me how to experience it…