How to Find Rest for Your Soul When You're Weary & Burdened

Valerie Faust
Dec 12, 2019
4 min read

Updated: Jan 16, 2020

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28 – 30, NIV

"God - I'm too young to have a heart attack!" I anxiously thought as my eyes snapped open.

I had woken up before my alarm – heart pounding in my chest. The restless nights, mile long to-do lists, and seemingly hundreds of commitments to family and friends finally catching up to me.

Thoughts continued racing through my head: “I have to write another devotional for my blog.” “I have to prepare for my presentation on Thursday.” “I have to clean the house.” “I need to call my Mom back.” “I need to pay the bills…call the vet…finalize handouts for my training session…reach out to my girlfriends about finding time to get together…” and on and on and on.

I knew the Word of God, and yet, I wasn’t experiencing the truth of it in my life.

Now, I love my family. I love my friends. And, I honestly enjoy most of my work. But, even so, when taken together – all at once – I felt crushed by the weight of it all.

I cried out to God again, “It’s too much! Lord, you are asking too much of me! I can’t do it all!”

But, was He really asking too much? Was it really His fault my load felt so heavy? For doesn’t God promise us:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest… For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(Matthew 11: 28 – 30, NIV)

Man, what I wouldn’t give for a light load and easy yoke! So, if that’s the promise, then why was I lying there awake in bed experiencing an anxiety attack over everything I still needed to do? I knew the Word of God, and yet, I wasn’t experiencing the truth of it in my life.

The thing is, after looking closer at those verses in Matthew, God reminded me that it’s not a no-strings-attached promise. We have a part to play in receiving. For it is God’s burden that is light. His yoke that is easy. And Jesus will share it with us, if we submit ourselves to Him.

“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)

To receive the yoke and burden of Jesus, we must first go to Him in our struggles and seek Him with our burdens. Then, we must set down our burdens before we can take up His. And finally, once we do, we must commit to learning from Him – becoming gentle and humble in heart. Or, as the KJV translates it: "meek and lowly in heart."

Our impression of biblical meekness is all wrong.

Now today, the term “meekness” has rather fallen out of favor as it is, perhaps, most commonly associated with the phrase and sense of being “meek & mild as a mouse.” The prevailing idea that being meek makes us a pushover and easily taken advantage of by others. A couple years ago, however, I heard a pastor say that our impression of biblical meekness is all wrong. That meekness is not about being timid or quiet, but rather, its true definition is about having a heart submitted to God and being open to His leading.

Meekness is not about being timid or quiet, but rather, its true definition is about having a heart submitted to God and being open to His leading.

Next, we must be humble, or “lowly in heart.” Or, in other words, we must recognize: it is not all about us; it is not all up to us; and we cannot do it all. We have to recognize that our roles and God’s role are not one in the same. The weight of the world is thankfully not on our shoulders – it’s on His. Our time, strength, resources, and wisdom are limited – His are not. We are not called to be Jesus; we are called to be in relationship with Him and point others to do the same.

We are not called to be Jesus; we are called to be in relationship with Him and point others to do the same.

So then, next time we find ourselves weary and heavy-laden or with our anxious hearts beating and minds racing, may we turn again to Jesus, set our burdens down at His feet, and ask Him to continue making us more and more like Him – meek and lowly in heart but strong in God.