Come to Me and I will Give You Rest
Then Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Oh sweet girls, this verse has ministered to me like no other verse the last two years. I hope you can sit back and truly take this verse in and let it sink deep into your heart and mind.
If you feel led, please pray this with me. Lord, Jesus I come to You right now, thank You that I can come to You. Holy Spirit, please speak to me. Please let this truth from Your Holy Word sink deep into my heart. Please let me not only read about coming to You, but let me live a life where I come to You, where I run to You all the time. Help me to run to You first when I’m overwhelmed, full of fear, anxiety, sadness, hurt, pain, and even in times of joy, laughter, and celebration. Teach me what it looks like to rest in You. Teach me to be still and know that You are God. In Jesus name, Amen.
Let’s dig in and break this scripture down. Come to me. Did you know Jesus wants you to come to Him all the time? He wants you to talk to Him. He wants you to pour your heart out to Him. He wants to hear your hopes, dreams, disappointments, fears, and the things that make you sad or afraid. He wants to celebrate with you. He doesn’t want you to clean yourself up first. He wants you to come just as you are. He wants you to personally trust Him and come to Him.
All who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Dear friends, God knows that life is hard. Jesus said, “In this life you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Did you hear that? You will have trouble sweet girls, but take heart Jesus has overcome the world! He wants us to come to Him when we are weary and feel the burdens of life and He wants us to give those burdens to Him. We are not meant to carry them. Oh daughters of the King of kings, what an amazing gift and privilege this is!
Something that my dear friend Rachel shared with me that helps me is to visualize giving my burdens to Jesus and laying them at his feet. I literally visualize a ball with my burden or hard thing written on it and roll it to Him. I did this just last night as I was going to bed and something came to my mind that was causing some fear. There are often things on my mind and heart that I don’t even know are there, but as I am still before God, He shows me the things that are weighing me down and the burdens I’m not meant to carry. When I release these things to Him, it sets my heart and mind at peace.
And I will give you rest. Oh sweet girls, we all long for this deep soul rest. And Jesus offers us this rest! What keeps us from this? For many of us, including myself for so long, what kept me from this rest was my striving, trying to unknowingly earn my salvation, to prove I was a good daughter to God, to please God by my good works. I was unknowingly trusting in my good works for my salvation. It wasn’t until I surrendered my striving and accepted the love and grace of Jesus and trusted in the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ for my salvation that I was able to rest. This was my initial experience of this rest and it changed everything and still does to this day. It brought such refreshment to my weary soul. My journal looked like love letters during this season. I was in such awe of God (and still am) that I could come to God and was learning to live from a place of rest. Here’s a short excerpt from my journal during 2016.
“Daddy, Thank you for time with You. Thank You for changing me. Thank You for Your love and grace that is so great. Holy, Father I want to know You more. I want to know Your heart. Daddy, I feel like You have revealed yourself to me and shown me the way to life to the full is through complete trust and reliance on You. Thank You for the peace and joy you have given me. Daddy, I cannot thank You enough. Daddy, I want more people to experience this. It’s only through You that they can experience this and by the working of Your Holy Spirit. Please lead them to You Lord. You are everything. I wouldn’t trade anything for my relationship with You.”
Here’s the very next day. You can see and would see if you looked at my journals many days it was (and still is) coming to Him in the hard things.
“Daddy, It’s so good to sit with You for a few minutes to be still, to be silent, and just talk to You and think about You. Daddy, today I just felt discouraged. Nothing significant happened. I think a lot of small subtle things added up. Daddy, my hope is in You not in this world. Please keep me focused on that and not on anything else. Daddy, please take away my anxiety about raising my son or any other children in this world, but instead let it put me on my knees more. Daddy, I want to give You my anxiety and disappointment with this world and instead use it to point me to You. I want to worship You for Your great grace and that one day I will be with You forever.”
Girls, I trusted Him for the initial soul rest and He gives me a daily, moment by moment invitation to come to Him for daily rest and refreshment daily. There are some days actually most days when I feel like I am constantly coming to Jesus and just asking Him if we can talk. I’m asking Him for strength. I’m asking Him for help. I’m thanking Him for seeing Him at work. I’m coming to Him crying out for a friend who is sick or in pain. I’m meditating on His word. Oh sweet girls, I have been asking God for years to show me how to pray without ceasing and how to be led by the Holy Spirit. Sweet girls, I don’t do this perfect by any means and never will, but I’m coming to Him more and more and sharing such sweetness with him that I can’t even explain. Girls, I truly believe that this is how He wants us to live and this coming to Him all the time is what it looks like when He tells us to “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
We just have to come to Him. Philippians 4:6 tell us, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.” This has been such a game changer for me and continues to change my life and breathe life into my sometimes mundane days at home. It transforms every day into an opportunity to come to know my King and Savior Jesus more and to see Him at work all around me. It allows me to lean into Him in situations that would normally cause me to feel anxious. It makes me more in tune to His love notes that He leaves for me everywhere, whether that’s a sunset, a good cup of coffee, an unexpected visit from a friend, my husband’s smile, or my kids laughter.
Let’s read the verse again. Let it sink in. Marinate in it. Let it breathe life into your weary heart dear ones.
“Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I (Jesus) will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Reflection
Is there something you need to talk to Jesus about right now. If there is, I’d encourage you to talk to Him like you would a friend. Unexpected sadness and tears may come. Just let Him hold you. You are safe in His loving arms. He wants to hear whatever is on your heart and mind. He will offer you comfort and peace like no one else. Just be with Him.
Is there anything you are carrying that’s heavy and weighing you down? If so, I want to invite you to talk to the Lord about and consider writing a prayer of surrender to the Lord and lay this burden at His feet.
How does it make you feel to know that you can come to Jesus in your weariness and with your burdens? Does that flood your heart and mind with thanksgiving? With joy? With strength? With peace?
Ask the Lord to highlight anyone who you can share this truth from God’s Word with.