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MATTHEW 11:29 “TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU AND LEARN OF ME, FOR I AM MEEK AND LOWLY IN HEART, AND YOU SHALL FIND REST UNTO YOUR SOULS.” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, RSV)
“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.” (NIV, NASB)
“Wear my yoke-for it fits perfectly-and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens.” (TLB)
I retired in 2017. By now, I would have thought I would have found rest. You may identify with me when I say, I have been busier since I retired than before.
Growing older isn’t easy at all. I have had two major surgeries, nursed my wife for three years before she passed away and tried to keep a home repaired and maintained that was way more than I bargained for. I identify with the description in verse 28 that describes me as labored and heavy ladened.
I will admit that I come to Jesus regularly and seek rest. I have found, however, that the load doesn’t appear to be lightening up any time soon. If I define the rest I think He is talking about, it isn’t coming in any particular hurry. Maybe He means something else.
I hope my writings help you to find some answers to problems like these in your life too. A lot of times when He is leading me to write about them, I find He is also trying to teach me what He means by what He said.
As He spoke to me in the middle of last night, He told me that the rest He is referring to is not a removal of what He has given me. In other words, if I am coming to Him, expecting Him to remove my labor and burdens, I might be waiting a while.
As I mentioned in the last chapter, the “rest” He is referring to is a rest in our hearts, but maybe not a rest from all labor. Sometimes it seems as if immediately after one burden ceases, another one takes it place. No, I think what He meant by rest was a rest “IN” the labor or burden, not necessarily a rest ‘from” the burden. Look what He says here in verse 29.
Jesus told us in verse 28 to come to Him and He would give us rest. Immediately following, in the next verse, He tells us to take His yoke on us. What? Tell me to rest in one verse and then tell me to take a yoke on me in the next? Yep.
Notice the image of a yoke above. It has a place for two bearers. There are bridles that hold just one beast available. But the yoke holds two places available. The message is that the yoke Jesus expects us to take is a yoke WITH Him! He is in that yoke beside us. We are not alone. His rest comes from the fact that He who created the universe is next to us when we struggle and have burdens. He carries those burdens with us. Notice the three things He tells us about putting that yoke on.
First, He says we need to learn from Him. We need to learn how Jesus bears the load and expect us to as well. He is with us and promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Learning from Him means seeing how He would have us bear the load of life…not do it alone. Maybe, instead of working hard until I drop, it might be smart to remember He is in the yoke with us, work WITH Him, not against Him or by ourselves and learn how He would do whatever needs to be done. Do you ever come to Him after it all falls apart and ask Him to fix it? How much easier would the load go if we come to Him before and during the situation to see how He might think we should handle this.
Second, He says, “I am meek and lowly of heart”… “gentle and humble.” I might need to meet the challenges of life with the same gentleness and humility. That kind of goes against our normal human nature. My tendency is to charge right in, examine the situation and wipe out anything that doesn’t contribute to the solution to the problem. How many others have I hurt with that kind of bull-headedness?
Third, He says, “you will find rest for your souls.” It is kind of like, if you will get in this yoke with me, if you will learn of me instead of trying to do it your way all by yourself, and if you will be gentle and humble in this work we will do together…then, you will find rest! And the rest you will find, though it might not immediately provide physical rest for your body, it will provide rest for your soul. Soul rest often provides physical relief as well.
Knowing that I need the kind of “soul rest” that only comes this way, I think I will try to take on His yoke, follow His three instructions above in bearing it and see how differently that might help me bear the labor and burdens of this life than how I am doing it now. Does that seem like a smart thing to do? Give it a try.
Questions to ponder: Why do we choose the hard way to do things more often than we choose the Lord’s way? Can you identify with me times when afterward, it was obvious that you had come up with your own plan for solutions to problems only to realize that way was not the Lord’s way? How does being gentle and humble help us work better/smarter and be able to bear the loads of life? Temporally, we are stuck in the “now.” Jesus sees way ahead of us into the future only He knows. Doesn’t it seem smarter to “team up” with Him instead of “plowing ahead” on our own?
Other Scriptures to study: “I am the way” John 14:6 Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Prov 14:12 and Prov 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man…” Hebrews 4:1-11 “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest…”
Songs to remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRzRrc7XEjs
 
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