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MATTHEW 11:28 “COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, RSV)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV)
“Come to me and I will give you rest-all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke.” (TLB)
The Lord knew. He knew work was going to be hard. It wasn’t originally meant to be that way. But, after the fall of Adam and Eve, God told them that life was going to be tough.
Look at Genesis 3:17-19. “In toil you shall eat of it (the cursed ground) all the days of your life.” “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.”
It seems true, especially in our American culture, that we do not like hard work. I don’t know anyone that looks forward to going back to work after a really nice vacation and “hitting it hard again.” Given the choice of working really hard and having rest, I kind of prefer rest. But I also like to eat.
For so much of man’s history, he has had to work really hard just to exist. Hard work was needed to till the fields, plant the seed, remove weeds and eventually harvest the crops just to feed ourselves. Hinting for food was no easier.
With improvements in technology, we have been able to replace a lot of that hard work with automation and machines, freeing us to do many other things. Yet, to be able to provide for ourselves and our families, we still find that we have to work hard. In another place in the Bible the writer said “If a man doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat.”
Hard work is encouraged. We should be industrious. Laziness is discouraged. We grow up being told that we should work hard to provide. Added to that, we do not all have the same opportunities to have easier or harder labor…sometimes, we just have to work as hard as we can to “make ends meet.”
There have been many times when I totally understood the term “all who are weary and heavy laden/burdened.” Work is meant to be hard…that’s why we call it work. It isn’t normally “play.” After lots of weeks of what seems like endless labor, I get very tired and need rest. It is easy to identify with weariness and feeling a heavy burden.
Jesus knew we would feel this way. His recommendation to us in Matthew 11 was that when we feel this way, we should come to Him. What he literally said He would give us was rest.
I’m pretty sure He did not mean that if we would come to Him we would never have to work again. Those who have tried that lifestyle found that work still needed to be done to eat. No, what I believe He meant was, at the very least, He can give our hearts rest, maybe even in the midst of our hard work.
Because of the fall of sin, we each were born into an existence that cannot continue without work. Sometimes, that work will be hard…maybe all of the time. Hard, industrious work is encouraged. But it can also become a huge burden, sometimes harder than we can bear. Jesus says to us, “Come to me. I will give you rest.” That may tell us that real rest might only come through Him.
We will next learn the following verses of Matthew 11, verses 29 and 30. They are fairly simple verses to memorize. We have several songs that can help us memorize these verses too. But more importantly, the following verses tell us HOW the Lord takes us from a state of weariness, burdened and carrying a heavy load to rest in Him. For now though, accept the truth Jesus tells us here: If we feel in this state (heavy ladened), and if we will come to Him, He will give us rest.
Questions to ponder: Why must work be so hard? Is there such thing as an “easy” job? Have you ever experienced that shock of suddenly being out of work? At that point, does anyone think that work, as hard as it might be, might be better given up or forgotten about? How easy is it to work so hard (work-a-holics) that we find it impossible to ever find rest? Is it possible to work too hard and never give yourself a rest? How about working on Sundays?
Other Scriptures to study: Proverbs 10:4, slack hands and diligent work. Prov 13:4, the sluggard versus the diligent. Prov 22:29, 2 Peter 3:14, Prov 6:6, the example of the ant. Prov 13:11, “he that gathereth by labor shall increase.” Ecclesiastes 10:18 Slothfulness and idleness. 2 Thess 3:11 Some working not at all but are busybodies. Prov 14:23 “In all labour there is profit.” Ecc 9:10 “Whatsoever thy had findeth to do, do it with all of thy might.”
Songs to remember: I searched for an old hymn that comes straight from this verse. I was disappointed that I didn’t find the one I learned that helped me memorize this verse. But I found many others that you might be able to enjoy and use to help memorize this Scripture just as well. Have a listen:
 
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