I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Exodus 6:7
Nobody likes carrying a burden – it’s cumbersome, restrictive and tiring. We don’t mean to pick them up, but somewhere along the way they attach themselves to us and by the time we notice, they are firmly in place on our shoulders. Once they’re there, they’re hard to shift, so what do we do about them?
Burdens come in all shapes and sizes. Some we have picked up ourselves and some have been placed upon us by others. The one thing that should never be burdensome, though, is God’s Word, and yet that is exactly what Jesus found to be a reality. Addressing the scribes and Pharisees, He said, ‘you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers’ (Luke 11:46). These men had become a law unto themselves and they made the law a burden for everyone else. There were so many things to get wrong that the people couldn’t keep up with all the rules. This angered Jesus, who likened them to ‘unmarked graves’ because how is anyone supposed to know they are walking in the wrong place if it is not clearly marked?
Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28,30
What type of burdens do you find yourself under? Are they physical, mental, spiritual, or a combination? Where do you go for rest and relief? We all need rest for our bodies, rest for our minds and rest for our souls. Without rest we burn out, become unproductive or ineffective and we are unable to function properly. Resting in Jesus not only refreshes us physically and mentally, it also strengthens us spiritually, for in coming to Him, we receive rest for the soul.
God rescues us from burdens that we are not meant to carry. When we trust Him, we can be assured that He will bring us out from under whatever is weighing us down.
Narrow Path Ministries 