”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.” Matthew 11:28-29

Where does the Bible say, “God will not put more on us than we can bear?” This is a common remark from people of faith especially when they try to comfort someone distressed about life. The fact is that many experiences in life cannot be handled alone. All of us need help at sometime in life.

Think of some of the statements we make regarding burdens. We hear, “They carry all the cares of the world on their shoulder.” We are informed of every tragic incident occurring somewhere in the world. Most of these events shouldn’t threaten us. Neither can we be a solution to the issues. Yet, we can allow these incidents to consume our mind and capture our day. Anyone who carries all the cares of the world will be overburdened with life.

Another statement is, “That’s my burden to bear.” This statement implies we have been given a problem to solve on our own. The burden is our price to pay. There is a weight on us that makes us weary and defeated. There seems to be no solution or relief. Instead we pray for endurance and feel oppressed by the life we live.

Jesus offers another option to the burdens we carry. Jesus said, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Our rest is found in allowing Jesus to be our partner in life.

To find His rest, Jesus instructs us to take His yoke upon us. This sounds like he wants us to take on more when we already have too much. But, there is another perspective. When we yoke with Christ, He becomes the power we need to stand under the load we carry. Being yoked with Christ is like riding a bicycle built for two. When the other person peddles, we can take our feet off the pedals and enjoy the ride.

When the railroad organizes a train to travel across the country, they match the load to carry with enough engines that the load will be tolerable and under control. Jesus wants to be that extra difference we need so the cares of life do not overwhelm us.

The next time you feel overloaded, realize that we become overloaded when we try to handle too much on our own and we give too little to Jesus. No load is too small! No load is too large! Any load you wish you had help is something Jesus considers worthy. He really cares about how your life is moving. The Lord does not come to put more on us than we can bear. The Lord has come to set you free!