When Your Heart is Heavy, Jesus Takes the Load

Matthew 11:28-30

“When I am afraid,

I put my trust in thee.

In God, whose word I praise,

In God I trust without a fear.

What can flesh do to me?”

Psalm 56:3-4

Today, my heart is very heavy. I feel so unqualified for the path God called me to go down. I am tired. I am weary of the load I am carrying. The details are not mine to share, but I know the path is the Lord’s. Still, I do not presume to understand His will or why He chose me. Perhaps you, like me, needed to hear today’s reading: “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.” When I think of Jesus, I think of his power. I think of his second coming and anticipate Jesus the King. Yet, at the same time, he is gentle. Perhaps that means more to me because I also consider his power.

When I was a child, my father was one of the strongest and biggest men of any of my friends’ parents. Considering all our fathers were miliary fighting men, that was no small feat. I remember him and my mother joking that one of his arms was the same size as my mother’s waist. She used to tease him that he was so muscular he never looked like he was able to put his arms down. Few people would have ever dared to pick a fight with my father. He was powerful, and he knew it. However, my father is one of the most gentle of men. While he had a reputation for being fierce and taking on 4 or 5 men in a fight, he also had a reputation of being selfless and kind. He used his strength to pick a motorcycle off a man who had been in an accident and was being crushed under the weight of the vehicle. He used that same strength when he locked himself in a jail cell with a man who had taken a drug that made him rage and hurt himself. He wrapped those powerful arms around the man and forcibly held him down until the drugs had worked their way through his system. He also used those arms to cradle me when I was scared. The force he once used to rip a suitcase in half he controlled to softly rock me in his arms. It takes a powerful man to be gentle and lowly in heart.

While I have been so blessed to have such a godly father, our Heavenly Father doesn’t even compare. God is the perfect father. He has the perfect power. Nothing even comes close. Yet, He is also the perfection of gentleness. With a look, He could lay waste to every army in the world, and with His powerful hand, He lovingly wipes away the tears from our eyes. God’s yoke is light because He bears it with us. There are no struggles that I face alone, not even the one I find myself in now. Though I get overwhelmed, I know God is always with me in this fight. I know it is His strength that enables me to stand. I must remember to use His words and not my own. Life is a battle between good and evil. Satan wants to not only wound humanity but destroy it. Each of us play a part in this war. While I feel unqualified and far too weak and unskilled, I must remember this is where my God and King has told me to stand. I will not fear the fight because I do not face it without God’s help.

(Written by Keegan Harkins.)