One of the Verse of the Day this week from the YouVersion bible app was “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. Selah.” (Psalms 68:19). The word or phrase that caught my attention in that verse was “who daily bears our burden” signifying that God Himself daily bears our burden (if we’ll let Him, that is). Isn’t that incredible?! Not only does He bear our burden daily but He is also our salvation, meaning the One who saves us. Who are we that the Maker of heaven and earth, the creator of all things, the Ancient of Days would bear our burden and save us? Why would He do that for creatures that are not loving, creatures that spit on His face, creatures that have no respect for their Creator, creatures that want to take the place of their Creator? The answer is in the character of God. God is love, He is merciful, He is just, He is Holy, He is compassionate. None of the goodness of God to us happened because we were worthy of some sort, none of it was because of us but it had everything to do with His character. This verse was a great reminder to me that I do not have to carry a burden while I’m on this earth because God does that for me. Is there any other God that does that, I ask? None other than Jesus Christ Himself who beckoned us to cast our burdens on him and to take his easy yoke. In light of this, I would like to encourage us to take Jesus at his words and come to him, we who are heavy laden.
It is often unclear what Jesus means when he says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30). What does it mean to come to him? How do you come to him? Exactly how does one obtain rest in him? As Christians, we tend to complicate things more than we should, we also tend to overanalyse things but I’d like to suggest that this verse is as simple as it is read. In the bible, whenever an idea was discussed, or a concept was explained, whether in parables or in plain language, the intended audience always understood the meaning. For example, when Jesus spoke in parables to the Pharisees, though Jesus’ words were harsh, the Pharisees always understood that they were the intended audience (Matthew 21:45). Or take for example Joseph, when he told his brothers and father of the dream he had. They all understood that Joseph would reign over them (Genesis 37:10). Whether or not they liked it is a different story. My point is, similarly with us, we know what the word of God is saying to us when we read a passage of the bible. The conviction by the Holy Spirit is often very clear but we opt to rationalize and excuse our actions. For this reason, I believe, every believer knows that there is an element of surrender that is required or will be required when it comes to coming to Jesus to rest in him. To come to Jesus, you need to trust him and to trust him, you need to believe in his words or his teachings. It is impossible to come to Jesus without surrendering and obeying to his word. That is why we are called to come to Jesus as children would, completely trusting to their parents. Moreover, when we surrender to Jesus, we let him take care of the burden which means we no longer have to worry about it. It is not a point of tension anymore, our mind can be at rest because we have “outsourced” the worry to Jesus. I first heard this “outsourcing” analogy while listening to a Focus on the Family radio show in which the speaker used that to explain what it means to not worry. When you outsource something, you can monitor the situation closely but you are not involved in the nitty-gritty nor are you expected to be otherwise it would defeat the purpose of the outsourcing. Similarly, when we surrender to Jesus, we can do some follow ups as we pray but we should never get involved because the results will be disappointing.
How do you come to Jesus? You simply call upon him. Whether you are a believer or not, coming to Jesus means calling upon his name. This starts with prayer. Prayer is the means through which we humble ourselves before God and we lay our burdens before Him. It is the communication mechanism we have with our Father in heaven. When you pray, ensure you are honest because God is Holy and He does not tolerate lies for there is no lie in Him. As you call upon the name of Jesus, you remind him of his word (Matthew 11:28-30) and tell him that you have come to take him at his words by calling upon his name and asking for the promise of his rest. The rest that Jesus gives might not look like the rest you have thought of for yourself but it will be a rest nonetheless. Hence, the importance of total surrender. As the verse in Psalm 68 says, God is our salvation which means in His rest, He ensures we lack no good thing (Palm 34:10). He covers all aspects of our lives that need rest. This means in every situation we find ourselves into, God is our salvation. He made provision for our ultimate salvation from sin which separated us from Himself through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus at the cross. When Jesus died, he took away our sins, the ones committed then and the ones to be committed. He nailed them to the cross, took the blame and exchanged his righteousness for our filth. Then he rose again on the third day, triumphing over sin and death and re-establishing the relationship we had with the Father in the beginning. This sacrifice granted us eternal life which is the ultimate rest we will be receiving. However, this salvation we received is not only for heaven but also for earth. We are called to live as new creatures in a fallen world because we are God’s ambassadors here. Our lives should model the rest that Christ has secured for us, it should model the goodness of God, it should model His patience, it should model His love and more.
Therefore, the rest that Jesus Christ offers is available to all who surrender to him, all who confess their sins, all who believe in him as their Lord and Saviour. This is the only way to receive this rest. Trying to obtain this rest in one’s own strength is not feasible, it is impossible. Come to Jesus: in him there is life, in him there is forgiveness, in him there is joy, in him there is peace, in him there is prosperity like that of a tree planted by streams of water which gives fruit in every season (Psalm 1). Come to Jesus by opening his word, the bible and savour it. Grow in your understanding of it as you read and meditate on it, delight yourself in the teachings of Jesus, “buy wisdom, truth and understanding” as the book of Proverbs tells us (Proverbs 23:23). The more you do this, the more casting your burdens on Christ will become natural. Remember, the Lord bears your burden daily and He is your salvation. Why strive for something that is already taken care of? He said “it is finished!” and that was the case. Brothers and sisters, let us put our efforts in things that benefit the kingdom of heaven, things above as Paul tells us in Colossians (Colossians 3:1-3). Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 