Come to Me
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. – Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV.
We live in a world of violence, of capriciousness, of unpredictability. A sudden 7.8 earthquake in Turkey and Syria kill thousands causing massive damage. The unthinkable happens to Ukraine as the deranged dictator Putin attacks destroying whole cities and killing thousands of civilians threatening to kill even more with nuclear weapons. 2020 arrives and millions die from a virus created in a lab in Wuhan, China. So many people almost on a random basis are still being impacted negatively by the virus. Then there are all of the sudden deaths of young people which some blame on the vac_ine. In the past I remember hearing about a man killed by a large umbrella blown by the wind at a hotel in Florida. He said a satellite blew up on him. He thought he had been attacked by a satellite antenna. Another man I heard about in the past was a man in San Diego who was electrocuted while just sitting on a bench waiting for a bus.
The world would make us slaves afraid to leave our homes. The world would make us afraid to say anything about our faith. We can dwell upon all the dangers, problems, and possibilities until we have a heavy load which affects all of our life. We can drive ourselves crazy though worry for our own safety and for our loved ones. What are we to do?
In the past I heard a man share about how his son had been a part of Christian entertainer’s road crew one summer. According to the man’s son before they would leave to go to another event they would all lay hands on their van and pray for protection. I always prayed for protection before leaving with a van full of kids. Once on the way back from a youth evangelism conference in Oklahoma City I know that God supernaturally protected us. As I began to pass a vehicle pulling a trailer it was as though a giant hand suddenly pressed down on top of the van slowing us down. That was when the trailer of the vehicle in front of us came loose just held on by the safety chain slinging the trailer back and forth across the highway. I know that God protected us that day!
Dwight L. Moody tells of how he had always had safety in his travels until one night while on a ship it began to sink. They all began praying and Moody read Psalm 91. One woman was convinced it was written just for the occasion. Another ship finally arrived, and they were all rescued. J. Hudson Taylor was on his way to China when a dead calm made them sitting ducks for headhunters from a nearby island. Just before the headhunters reach the ship Hudson prays, the wind blows, and they are carried to safety.
What are we to do? We must take all of our burdens, all of our worries, all of our problems to Jesus. He says, “Come to Me….” Let us go and find rest for our souls.