"Come to Me, all of you who are weary and overburdened,
and I will GIVE you rest. Put on My yoke and learn from Me.
For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will FIND rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29 (JBP)
(1) How many of the burdens that I am carrying are burdens that I am supposed to
carry? I can't find any respite. I can't rest.
(2) How many of the desperate, depressing problems in my life that keep me
awake at night are problems that I am supposed to solve? They control my life! There's no rest!
The correct answers to your questions:
#1: Not any of them
#2: Not any of them
"That I do not understand, Anabel. Aren't we expected to take care of those events, brutal though they may be, that come into our world? Didn't He give us our intelligence and make us smart enough to figure out what to do?" That's the general espoused opinion, but that popular opinion leaves the "Heavy" (God) out of the picture.
First of all, one of the central truths that we must have in our relationship with God is this: He is not a 911 God! If the only time I come to Him is when things are going wrong, then I have a warped understanding of our relationship. If you have a friend (?) and the only time she talks to you or comes over to your house is when she has a problem, you'd start pulling the blinds when you saw her coming and check the caller ID before you picked up the phone. No. We "pray without ceasing". That simply means including God in every aspect of your life, from the midnight visit to the emergency room to going to the baseball game and the movies. So you "talk" to Him about every problem'minute and major'ending that time of prayer saying, "I want Your will in my life'only Your will. Please protect me from making this decision on my own."
The next step is coming to know Him. How do we do that? Reading His love letter (the Bible), talking with others about Him, seeking Him diligently. As you do this you will find another very important "central" truth. We have to believe Him. When He tells us to "Cast all your cares on Me"[1] we say, "Okay. I'll do that." When He says, "Don't be afraid. I am with you. I am holding your hand"[2] you say, "I believe You." When He says, "If you will set your mind on Me I will give you peace."[3] (And boy, do I ever need peace!) "I believe You." When He says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please Me. You must believe in Me and know that I am going to take care of you."[4] "I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!"[5]
He goes so far as to tell us that we will never find peace and rest and joy and all of those things we yearn for so deeply if we do not believe Him.[6] For example, rest. Rest. That's a beautiful word. You feel it when you say it. It means relief from anything distressing, tiring. It means to become still, quiet. Rest. How is rest possible in this chaotic world in which we live?
You do recognize that we are living in a fallen world? This is not the world God created and He is not the ruler of this world.[7] He intercedes at times and we call those times "miracles". But regardless of this fallen world, God says there is a "rest" for all who come to Him. He says "I will give you rest". He also says that if we will become a part of His life, "Take My yoke upon you and learn about Me", we will find rest. It is all about our relationship with Jesus.
Come to Me and I will give you rest.
Learn of Me and you will find rest.
There are no limits. He says ALL who are weary. And we are among the weary ALL, so we humble ourselves and come to Him with our shattered dreams and our scarred lives. And what do we find?
Look! There He is! He's waiting for us and He's holding something in His hands. What is it that He's offering us? Oh! It is REST! SWEET REST!
You came, you believed, you received. Now, go rest little one, rest.
