Are you getting tired of it all?  I mean it is like this continuous dark cloud hanging over everything, every day.  Will there actually be a time when things will be normal?  Families are attempting to multitask like never before, kids are beginning to figure out this isn’t just an extended spring break.  How will this shutting down of most of America affect finances?  Who has the corona virus?  Will I get it if I venture to the store for groceries?  I miss church activities; I miss encouragement from brothers and sisters in Christ.  I know I am not alone, but I feel alone.  I know God is in control, I trust Him, but I am growing weary.

Do you feel like that?  Maybe you don’t feel like that and that is good.  But to be transparent it does become wearisome to me.  There is help and it comes from Jesus, that’s right from Jesus, listen to what He says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.  Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  What does Jesus tell us in His call to come to Him for rest?

First, we must take our weariness and burdens to Him.  Sometimes we think we must carry our load by ourselves or we’re going to disappoint someone or ourselves.  Sometimes we are ashamed of our inability to carry or handle the load.  I’m a believer I should be able to handle this!  We must set pride aside and come to Jesus with all of it.

Second, we must take up Jesus’ yoke and learn from Him.  The yoke we often try to carry is over weighted with things like sin, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, other people’s problems, relationship issues, unmet expectations, physical exhaustion, it is complicated by the web of culture and society, add to that, corona virus!  We must take off that yoke and take up Jesus yoke and learn how to carry His yoke.  I used to backpack.  How well you did on the trail was contingent upon your pack and how much weight you carried in it.  But it wasn’t just the weight, it was how it was distributed in the pack and how the pack was adjusted to your shoulders and hips.  Extra unneeded gear, and ill fitted packs made things miserable.  So, you go to the experienced backpacker and he helps you take out unneeded gear, adjust all the straps and belts and it is like a completely different load.  That is why we come to Jesus to learn what is unneeded and adjust how we carry His yoke because He is lowly and humble in heart.  He is simple and practical and gives us a totally different understanding of trust through simplicity and humility.

Third, by coming to Jesus and taking up His yoke we will find rest for our souls.  Focusing on Jesus, surrendering all those burdens and anxieties to Him that make us so weary will bring real and uplifting rest.  Don’t fret! Talk to Jesus, pray constantly, don’t dwell on what is wrong dwell on what is right in Jesus, read Psalms of praise, go to Jesus, because He says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  That brings a smile to my face and a praise to Him in my heart!