Come to me, all 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

Concerns, Cares, & Conflicts

We are heavy laden with cares. We are. That’s true of all of us.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden . . .

This focuses our attention on where we hurt on the inside, and it should not to be confused with what we have in God. The term, heavy laden, is representative of many components in life. These are the burdens we carry, the suffering we’ve endured, the worries we bear, the woundings we’ve absorbed, and the spiritual struggles that give mixed messages and so forth and so on.

The concerns we have for others is something else that makes us “heavy laden” and weary. There is also the non-visible threesome of emotional sabotagers that embed themselves in our beings: the presence of unhealed hurts, unmet needs, and unresolved issues. These become a part of us like a tick on a dog. They don’t leave on their own accord.

The losses and problems grow in number the longer we live. We become weary of the disappointments in life especially when we have tried so hard, given so much of ourselves to others; when we have gone above and beyond and have been faithful to God throughout it all. We wonder where He’s been? Why He hasn’t helped us out or solved the problem?

It is a good question, and maybe even a reality check. Why God didn’t answer or help in certain situations and why did He allow certain things to happen to us or to our loved ones?

The harshness of it all wars within our heads causing confusion and weariness and maybe even a measure of doubt in God’s goodness (what’s His game?). Some things really don’t seem fair. Why me? Why my family? Haven’t we been faithful? We want to blame God, or others, but we know we shouldn’t whine or question. It is then that we realize, that maybe our faith isn’t as strong as we thought it to be.

We may begin to question God’s goodness and His plan. Some people walk away and say, to heck with it,  I’ve had enough. When the test comes, we will have our litmus test as to the depth of our faith.  We will know our true selves and the state of our relationship with God. Our lack of faith or our strong faith will become evident to us when we take a true look at our spiritual side.

Is life supposed to be lived this way?

The good news is, we should be aware of our spiritual side, we should struggle when times are hard, and we should turn it over to God. Woulda, coulda, shoulda? That’s our reality sometimes. Weariness needs a remedy. The answer, our remedy, is to turn, with our weariness, to God. We can ask God for help, for strength, for the will to go on.

We access God’s loving arms as we picture ourselves leaning into His everlasting presence. We can even picture ourselves drawing strength and comfort from God the Father. We can turn to Him in that way. In the process, we begin a caring relationship that is a two-way street to a closer union.

God desires for us to bring our uncertainty, doubt, and tiredness to Him, unless it is a raging complaint like the Israelites were quite well known for uttering. We don’t need God as a magic cure-all. No, it isn’t that way at all. We need God for His offer of Himself, to be our God, and we to be His people. He is here to help us and to bring goodness out of the discouraging times. I can truthfully say, there are many times when I am unable to bear the difficulty in my own strength, but He comes along side and props me up. He will send friends and family to help or pray for me at just the right time when I need it the most.

We are three part beings. Our body, soul, and spirit work as one unit. When one area gets out-of-balance or in a weakened state, it affects the whole person. We are also mind, emotion, and will, another threesome that is one unit and that is affected by its balance or lack thereof.

If we ignore the burden, where we are “heavy laden,” it will run the show; touching every part of our being and eventually all areas of our self will be weakened. The physical, when it breaks down, also affects the rest of us. We can’t ignore our physical beings nor our emotional or  spiritual being. This is serious business. It is quite serious.

Again, we must take spiritual inventory so that we might access God’s spiritual intervention, a process through which He helps and purifies and restores and redirects, energizes, and revitalizes us in our whole person.

This is part of God’s loving intention for us. He takes the “hard stuff” and uses it to bring about the “good stuff” which means our personal struggle is a tool in the hand of God to help repair our individual spiritual selves. He knows where we need fixing and what will make us “shine” brightly. But, it is up to us to go to the mechanic.

I am so glad that God is here for us and is in the business of healing and restoring people to Himself.

It may seem fairly dismal, like a lot of work, but it isn’t. Look what comes next. We will receive rest. Spirit-rest is good for the soul. Continue on to the next post.

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©N. L. Brumbaugh