Matthew 11:28-30
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.
Commentary:
Sunday morning, August 28, I came to my office on the way to church to spend a little time with the Lord. My office is the place where I spend the majority of my time, and it is there where I have chosen to have my quiet times with the Lord in prayer and reading His Word. On this particular morning, I came with a heavy heart. I couldn’t put my finger on the problem. It was just one of those times when I felt like spiritually, I was in a desert. The word that best describes the way I felt at the time is barren. It was one of those times when I needed a fresh word from God. So, I turned to a very reliable devotional, Charles Spurgeon’s Mornings & Evenings.
I’m always amazed when I do get a special word from the Lord, and this was one of those times. I simply turned to the August 28th devotional, which is entitled, Sing, O barren! Isaiah 54:1 states, “Sing, O barren…burst into song, shout for joy.” Spurgeon writes,
“There are times when we feel very barren. Our prayers are lifeless, our love is cold, and our faith is weak. Each grace in the garden of our hearts languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun that need a refreshing shower. What are we to do in such a condition? The verse from which our text comes is addressed to those in just such a state: “Sing, O barren…burst into song, shout for joy.” But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. Oh, I can sing of Jesus Christ! I can talk of the visits the Redeemer paid me in the past. Or I can praise the great love by which He loved His people when He came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul. You were once heavy laden (Matt. 11:28), but you left your burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps the very cross that gave you life will also give you fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? Is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. I will go in poverty; I will go in helplessness; I will go in all my shame and backsliding. I will tell him that I am still His child. In confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will “sing…and shout for joy.” Sing, believers, for it will comfort your own heart and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on… now that God has made you unwilling to be without fruit, He will soon cover you with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord’s visitations are delightful. A sense of our poverty drives us to Christ. That is where we need to be, for in Him our fruit if found.*”
As you can imagine, when I read this, I felt a visitation by the Lord. My burden was lifted. The barrenness dissipated. Sorrow was replaced by joy. All because I came to the Lord.
This is why Jesus says, “Come to me!” When you come to Jesus, you will discover that he is gentle and humble (lowly). Jesus loves for us to come to him. In fact, he is always waiting for us. Even calling out to us, “Come to me!” Have you come to Jesus? He is waiting! The heart of Jesus is a heart that longs to comfort his sheep. “Come to me,” he calls out. Why not come to him now?
*Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 2002), 495.
