Weary and Burdened
by Nick Cooper
“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 NIV)
I’ve heard this passage of Scripture numerous times throughout my life, from pastors preaching on Sunday, to devotionals. Despite the number of times these words have pierced my ears, I don’t recall their message ever really making its way to my heart. The difference is the ability for these words to transform my life and faith.
This year has been difficult for me, and I know it has for many others. I have seen people suffer through difficult health challenges that have consumed months, endless doctor visits, and tests. I've seen co-workers come and go, jobs change, and families lose unborn children due to complications. We have all felt the effects of the fall on our lives.
The words “weary and burdened” that Jesus used in Matthew can describe how I have felt. Maybe you’re like me, and you are tired and worn down from the constant hustle and frantic rhythms that make up our daily lives. It seems like there is constantly more to do, and less and less time to get it done. The constant striving to do more and just keep going has led to sickness, fatigue, and a heart and soul that have lost sight of Jesus.
As I was preparing ideas to write this blog about, my mind kept going back to the gut-wrenching honest truth of where I’ve been. I am weary. In June, I took a job working with a major insurance company. While this has been a blessing, it also has posed challenges. I spend Monday through Friday staying in my old childhood bedroom at my parents’ house while I work near Atlanta. Waking up at 5am, making it back “home” from work at 6pm and then doing schoolwork until 9-10pm has been the cycle. A little relaxation time and then it’s back to bed to wake up and do it again.
Friday nights, I load up my car, hit the road, and head back to Macon to spend the weekend finishing any schoolwork, helping to plant a new Missional Community, mowing grass, and attending Sunday church services. Then it’s back to Atlanta Sunday evening for another week. All the work, reading, studying, and driving have drained not just my physical self but also my emotional and spiritual self. With so much to do, it is easy to forget about my relationship with Jesus. Can you relate? I find myself complaining and asking questions: when will it end and when can I finally rest?
In New City’s recent sermon series, we have been discussing the topic of “Transforming Faith”, and we have discussed the concept of head knowledge versus heart knowledge. I’d encourage you to listen to this series when you have a chance.
So many of the things that we have studied in this sermon series apply directly to my weariness. It is when I lose sight of Jesus that I begin to believe that God is not good, or that He has turned His back on me, and most recently, that He is incapable of solving my problems. This is simply not true. And if we as believers truly love God and want Him to work in our lives, then we must read His Word to us and be shaped by it. Scripture has so much to say about being tired and weary:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (Jeremiah 31:25)
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:28-29)"In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8)
The Bible is saturated with God’s promises, and with comfort for His people in times of need. Though we may suffer, in big ways and small, God is good and faithful to hear our prayers. As Pastor Keith preached on recently, not only does He hear, but He is able to do something about it. I can come to Him with my trouble, because He is both the all-powerful God of the universe and the gentle shepherd and Father who cares for me.
And sometimes, like it was for Paul in 2 Corinthians, it is better for us that we should not receive relief from our pain or weariness. Instead, maybe it is best that we endure in suffering, in tiredness, in what we are called to do—so that Christ is magnified in us. Ultimately, “We must trust Jesus and keep focused on Him and His calling in our lives to love God and love others and make disciples as we go.”
Whether in plenty or in want, we must fix our eyes on truth of God’s goodness, His character, and His grace toward us in Christ. Only faith in Him will enable us not only to endure suffering but to rejoice.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)