“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
Soul. It’s a word we use often but is hard to truly define. What is your soul?
I’ve been thinking about this, and when I looked it up, I found that there are many definitions of what the soul is, but if we get down it, I think we can define the soul as the inner essence of who we are — the mind, the will, the emotions — everything that makes you you on the inside. It’s hard to quantify the soul but we are aware of its influence.
When your soul is unsettled, you just don’t feel right on the inside. You may not be able to articulate what is happening, but you know something is off. So, what does it mean to come to Jesus in those moments? What does it mean to come to Jesus and find rest for your soul?
What if it is as simple as bringing all those feelings to Him, recognizing that these feelings are messages that you can’t quite decipher? What if He is the One who can decipher them? To come to Jesus in that moment may mean laying those feelings before Him and trusting that even if He doesn’t reveal the meaning right away, He will walk you through to the other side, that He is with you to carry the burden. Wouldn’t that lead to rest for your soul?
I can say that He has done that for me. He has not always given me the answers I am looking for, but He has walked with me to the other side.
Jesus says to come to Him, and He will give you rest, but also that you will find rest for your soul. How does one find rest?
To find is to discover something that was hidden. It is to decipher the answer to a puzzle. To suddenly understand something. What if to find rest is to uncover and understand the means to settle what is off inside?
Rest is not inaction as much as it is a state where action is not deemed necessary. There are still things to do but we choose to do them at another time. We don’t make rest. We can’t conjure up a feeling of rest. But we can choose conditions that lead to rest. We can come to Jesus.
Just as physical rest restores the body, mental and emotional rest restore the soul. In Psalm 23, David declares that the Lord, his Shepherd, restores His soul. Can’t He do the same for you and me?
Dear friend, come to Jesus, bring everything inside you, trust that He will walk with you through it, and find rest for your soul.
Key Question: What does it mean to come to Jesus and find rest for your soul?
A Scripture to Consider: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
A YES Challenge: Take a sheet of paper and write out all the things on your mind. Prayerfully offer that list to Jesus and ask Him to give you rest.
Prayer: Jesus, You know all that is weighing me down right now. You know where my soul is not at rest. I honestly don’t know what it means to come to You with all of this, but I am going to try. I bring You all my unsettled feelings, all of my mess, and I ask You to give me the rest You promised. I can’t find it on my own. I need the rest for my soul that only comes from You. Amen.
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