May 4th, 2022
How many of you have ever felt like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? It’s easy to get weighed down by all of life’s responsibilities but trying to carry things we’re not meant to carry will leave us empty and exhausted. This is something God has been dealing with my heart about this week and I want to share some thoughts with you!
If you do feel burdened, know that you are not alone. We see from the Scripture that even Moses, who spoke to God face to face (Ex. 33:11), felt weighed down by his responsibility. Now, with that being said, there are very few people in history that had more responsibility than Moses. He had the task of leading, caring for, and governing millions of people. He had the challenge of teaching a multitude who had known only slavery how to live as people of the Living God. What an undertaking! We see in Numbers 11:14-17 that it wasn’t always easy. Moses said,
“I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me…Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel…And I will take some of the
Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”
Moses was frustrated by the complaining of the people, and he went to God and told Him, and God gave him a solution—men that would help bear the weight of responsibility of the people. God has a solution for us, too! Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
These well-known words of Jesus are often associated with salvation. They paint a beautiful picture of the lost soul, weary and heavy-ladened, coming to Jesus and finding eternal rest and salvation. That’s true, however, Jesus didn’t just say this to the lost! When we get saved, we do come to Jesus, however, after that we must continually come. Just as God didn’t intend for Moses to live burdened, God does not intend for us to live burdened! That doesn’t mean that He won’t give us big things to do. It means that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the grace, people, and resources to do it. If you feel tired or weighed down, then there is likely something on your shoulders that needs to be brought to Jesus! He said to come, and He didn’t give qualifications. Come to Jesus with everything you have. You don’t have to come perfect. You don’t have to have answers. You don’t have to come clean. All you have to do is come willingly and allow Him to do what He does best. The grace of God won’t leave you the way you are. He’ll cleanse you of sin, lift every burden, destroy every yoke, and heal every disease. That’s what He does best. Psalm 55:22 says,
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
1 Peter 5:7 says,
“Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
To cast means to forcefully throw. It’s not passive! See, the Lord is not going to come and take our burden from us while we’re holding onto it for dear life. God isn’t going to force you to give Him the things that are too heavy, as much as He doesn’t want you to carry them. As long as we try to do things in our own strength, God will let us. He is not controlling. We have to choose to come to Jesus. We have to choose to cast our burden onto Him. Once we make that choice, though, the weariness will end. At the point that you cast your burden onto Him, He takes up the responsibility to carry you. He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. In John 6:35-37, Jesus said to the people,
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst… Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Jesus gave us the answer to the weariness, the exhaustion, and the burden thousands of years ago and it is so simple: Just come. We don’t have to figure things out and fix ourselves. In Matthew 18:1-3, there is an interesting dialogue between Jesus and the disciples that further sheds some light on this. It says,
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus didn’t say you had to be smart, successful, or impressive to enter the kingdom of heaven. He said we have to be like children. Most of us know the verse in Matthew 11:25, when Jesus said, “Come all who are weary and heavy laden.” The difficulty often lies in actually doing it, because of pride and the desire to be self-sufficient. The reality is you weren’t made to carry the burdens of even your own life. We were made to be absolutely and completely dependent upon God. It’s only when we realize our absolute need for Him that we can come like children. In a family that functions the way God intends, children come to their parents when they have a need with no pretense of self-sufficiency. They just come. They don’t come hesitantly or fearfully because they trust their parent will provide. That is how we’re to come to Jesus. You don’t have a burden so heavy that He can’t lift it. No yoke has been on your neck so long that He can’t destroy it. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)! Today, I want to encourage you to lay down everything you’ve been carrying at the feet of Jesus. From Eden to Gethsemane, the heart of God has not changed. It’s so simple. Just come. He will save you. Just come. He will heal you. Just come. He will lift you. Just come. He will set you free. Just come!
If you do feel burdened, know that you are not alone. We see from the Scripture that even Moses, who spoke to God face to face (Ex. 33:11), felt weighed down by his responsibility. Now, with that being said, there are very few people in history that had more responsibility than Moses. He had the task of leading, caring for, and governing millions of people. He had the challenge of teaching a multitude who had known only slavery how to live as people of the Living God. What an undertaking! We see in Numbers 11:14-17 that it wasn’t always easy. Moses said,
“I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me…Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel…And I will take some of the
Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”
Moses was frustrated by the complaining of the people, and he went to God and told Him, and God gave him a solution—men that would help bear the weight of responsibility of the people. God has a solution for us, too! Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
These well-known words of Jesus are often associated with salvation. They paint a beautiful picture of the lost soul, weary and heavy-ladened, coming to Jesus and finding eternal rest and salvation. That’s true, however, Jesus didn’t just say this to the lost! When we get saved, we do come to Jesus, however, after that we must continually come. Just as God didn’t intend for Moses to live burdened, God does not intend for us to live burdened! That doesn’t mean that He won’t give us big things to do. It means that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the grace, people, and resources to do it. If you feel tired or weighed down, then there is likely something on your shoulders that needs to be brought to Jesus! He said to come, and He didn’t give qualifications. Come to Jesus with everything you have. You don’t have to come perfect. You don’t have to have answers. You don’t have to come clean. All you have to do is come willingly and allow Him to do what He does best. The grace of God won’t leave you the way you are. He’ll cleanse you of sin, lift every burden, destroy every yoke, and heal every disease. That’s what He does best. Psalm 55:22 says,
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
1 Peter 5:7 says,
“Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
To cast means to forcefully throw. It’s not passive! See, the Lord is not going to come and take our burden from us while we’re holding onto it for dear life. God isn’t going to force you to give Him the things that are too heavy, as much as He doesn’t want you to carry them. As long as we try to do things in our own strength, God will let us. He is not controlling. We have to choose to come to Jesus. We have to choose to cast our burden onto Him. Once we make that choice, though, the weariness will end. At the point that you cast your burden onto Him, He takes up the responsibility to carry you. He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. In John 6:35-37, Jesus said to the people,
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst… Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Jesus gave us the answer to the weariness, the exhaustion, and the burden thousands of years ago and it is so simple: Just come. We don’t have to figure things out and fix ourselves. In Matthew 18:1-3, there is an interesting dialogue between Jesus and the disciples that further sheds some light on this. It says,
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus didn’t say you had to be smart, successful, or impressive to enter the kingdom of heaven. He said we have to be like children. Most of us know the verse in Matthew 11:25, when Jesus said, “Come all who are weary and heavy laden.” The difficulty often lies in actually doing it, because of pride and the desire to be self-sufficient. The reality is you weren’t made to carry the burdens of even your own life. We were made to be absolutely and completely dependent upon God. It’s only when we realize our absolute need for Him that we can come like children. In a family that functions the way God intends, children come to their parents when they have a need with no pretense of self-sufficiency. They just come. They don’t come hesitantly or fearfully because they trust their parent will provide. That is how we’re to come to Jesus. You don’t have a burden so heavy that He can’t lift it. No yoke has been on your neck so long that He can’t destroy it. Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)! Today, I want to encourage you to lay down everything you’ve been carrying at the feet of Jesus. From Eden to Gethsemane, the heart of God has not changed. It’s so simple. Just come. He will save you. Just come. He will heal you. Just come. He will lift you. Just come. He will set you free. Just come!
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