weary and burdened: Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Burdens. Not as per God’s original design. That design, a perfect world. Go to Genesis, read how it was. A climate which did not require building shelter. Food was there for us. No meat eaters, animals neither preyed on each other nor killed. There was, in fact, no spectre of death. God literally walked with Adam. They had fellowship.
Things got messed up, we were and have been separated from God. Now life presents us with burdens. That is bad news. Burdens bring with them anxiety.
I am an anxious type, always have been. Just ask my mom. High strung and anxious. At the same time, I am a master coper, have learned coping mechanisms. One of them, when anxious, I take off and go running. Today I was about ½ way through a 6 mile run, came across my wife and kids in Walmart parking lot. My kid’s friend asked me, “Why do you do this?” I told him of a time when it looked like I had taken my last run. Real bad injuries, looked like my leg was a goner. But we kept it and it came back. Four surgeries it has seen, no cartilage and a bunch of titanium. But it works good enough. I told the kid, I still get excited every time I get out to run, as it is a miracle of sorts. I still have my coping mechanism, anxiety goes away when my heart starts pumping and the endorphins get released. I think and pray and solve a lot of problems during.
Sometimes we struggle to cope with what planet earth throws at us. It seems too big. What can I do? Above we see Jesus instructing us to cast our cares on Him. I believe we can, and He hears. Also believe He tells us what to do, even if that means “Wait and I will take care of it.”
One example which runs right along with today’s theme: I recall a growing concern for my oldest kid. I saw around me a community of modern day children who were being trained in the fine art of doing nothing. Images of dazed and sedentary kids playing video games haunted me increasingly. I grew up on what was once, effectively, a functional farm. We still had a corn field, chicken coop, ducks and a pond. Woods as far as you could see. My dad was a worker, and put tools in our hands when we were little. Trimming and cutting grass, digging drainage ditches, shoveling snow, stacking wood, painting…… You name it, he made us do it. Good job, Dad. Now I was in his shoes, wanted my kids to get off their behinds and learn to work. But I did not have the farm, only a neighborhood filled with Nintendos. So one day I was running, concerned about how to train my kids like my dad had done. I had no training ground like he had. So I asked God for help, and He responded. He showed me a farmer down the road. So I took my kid down there, and asked the guy to train him up. Free labor for his knowledge, once the kid proved valuable, he could pay as he wished. A few years later, it has worked. My kid will get up tomorrow and go out to the farm. Do all kinds of work, and get paid for it. He’s getting built up. Problem solved.
It has become common practice to take my concerns to God, it seems to work.
Lots of bad news in this world, one thing after another. But there is good news, contained within the Gospel. In fact, that is what “Gospel” means: good news. Good news for man in what seems to be at times a bad place. The best news of all, it will not remain that way. Man will not fix the mess he has created, to which I, frankly, have been a contributor. God transcends the dimensions we know of, and although it may not seem so, He has fixed it already. Just a matter of time now.
