When I am straining under much labor and feel heavy laden, then Jesus asks me to,”Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest unto your soul, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I have an invariable rule that I highly recommend to any who feel burdened. (Every time I feel stressed, I am crossing a line from my part of the situation into taking responsibility for God’s part of the situation.)
Don’t get me wrong, God wants me to care, to mourn over sin, to hate evil and hunger for righteousness. He just does not want me to be stressed. He likes being God and being able to handle the past, future, world events, others attitudes, the weather, the economy or anything else that is too big for me.
I need to care passionately, to yield my body members in obedience to his guidance, and then throw all my cares on him, delighting in his care for me.
I like to picture God’s massive head in one loop of the yoke and me sitting in the other loop hanging on and enjoying the adventure. Just, “along for the ride.” (As I used to remind my children.)
It is profitable to look at why we like to moan and groan about our “stresses”. It seems to me that we are logical and delusional in the same thought. We expect to come up with a brilliant solution by ruminating on the details of the problem. We hope others will jump in and help, or give us honor and credit. We hope the problem will disappear when we point out how wrong it is. We hope that we will be let off of further striving because we have been through so much. We hope that we can use the misery that we generate to balance the guilt of our sin. Won’t Happen!
When faced with a problem, while yoked with Jesus, I need to see that all “problems” are challenges. They are opportunities to grow more like him, to bring him glory, to lay up treasure in heaven.
Lord, teach me to revel in persecution, in rejection, in labor and in loss. Help me to be content with much or little. Help me to see everything as challenges you designed me for and you now bring into our shared life for us to face together.
verlebellmd.com 