Come Unto Me

"I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

"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 11:25-30

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are several things that I have known clearly for about three weeks:

1. I have needed to go to God.
2. I need rest.
3. God wants me to ask Him to help me be teachable.
4. God wants me to ask Him to humble me before Him.

This morning, God dropped the passage I posted above into my heart during the service at my parents' church. Now, I don't always agree with everything that the people in the church say or teach, but the Spirit's work is evident there, and the goal of the people in the leadership is that Jesus Christ be magnified in everything that is done.

Jesus Christ, they reminded me this morning, is the foundation upon which we must build our entire lives. He is the Word, the living Word, and as we meditate upon the Word in our daily reading and memorization, we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, and the Person of God the Father, whom He reveals.

I have been waiting to understand why God wanted me to ask Him for the things that He requested me to ask of Him, because I didn't get it. Was it so that I would listen to what others were going to teach me about Him, no matter what I knew to be true? Was it because I was too proud and not willing to lay aside my pride? Was it because He saw some horrible sin in my life that I needed to be prepared to be confronted about?

No. It was because I was weak, weary, and heavy laden, because the longing of my heart has been to come to Him... Yet I haven't known how to come to Him. I haven't sensed His conviction in my life either through His Spirit or through where I have been in His Word about the pride that I was so afraid of harboring. He hasn't laid me flat because I am unteachable or won't be challenged.

He wants me to know Him. To learn of Him. This Creator-God who fought for my heart and redeemed me from the slavery of my sin and the shame of my past--I no longer live condemned before Him. He wants to give me rest. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

Teachable? God, you wanted me to learn of You? Of Jessus?

Humble? To have the mind of Christ, to find myself wondering anew at the miracle that He took my sin, to thank You for each breath You have given me, to fall at Your feet and leave the control of my life and my defense to You, who are my sure defense?

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! How can I ever express the freedom that He has given to me? How can I help but live--really live--for a God who does not condemn, whose love reaches to the heavens, and whose faithfulness reaches to the skies? He redeems my life from destruction and crowns me with lovingkindness and tender mercies. He remembers that I am dust, and has compassion on me as a father has compassion on His children.

He disciplines me sometimes, too, but never without the gentleness displayed in the life of Jesus Christ, never without the knowledge that this sin, too is covered in the blood of Jesus and that I am the righteousness of God in Him.

My soul has been retching with all of the pain from some recent attacks. How like my Lord to explain that He wasn't attacking me, but offering me rest on a day like today!