Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified Bible) – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
He gives me rest, but I have to find rest. I receive the rest He gives, but it takes time to find the complete rest.
The rest is with Him, in His presence. I will only find the rest I need when I come to Him.
But there is more to finding and living in His rest and peace than just coming to Him. There is something I need to learn of Him; there are things that He wants to teach me. I can come to Him and spend time in His presence and enjoy peace while there but get up and go away still burdened, heavy-laden and laboring.
There is a way of life He wants to teach me so that my life is no longer pressed down and overburdened. I take His yoke (His thoughts, His ways) upon me. I replace my old ways of thinking and living with what He teaches me from His Word and from times in His presence. I can live a life of continual peace and freedom every day and on every occasion – when I live in His presence, listening and yielding to His ways and casting all of my own ways and cares onto Him.
You can’t get this rest by having someone else pray for you. Jesus said for YOU to come to Him and find rest. You can’t get this rest with a quick prayer for peace. It takes time in His Word and in His presence to LEARN the things He wants to teach you on how to live a life of peace.
I love these words of Jesus in the Amplified Bible.
I will cause you to rest. I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. You will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls.
My yoke is wholesome, useful and good, not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing but comfortable, gracious and pleasant. My burden is light and easy to be borne.
If what you are carrying is harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, it isn’t from Him.
Other translations
Wuest New Testament – Come here to me, all who are growing weary to the point of exhaustion, and who have been loaded with burdens and are bending beneath their weight, and I alone will cause you to cease from your labor and take away your burdens and thus refresh you with rest. Take at once my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find cessation from labor and refreshment for your souls, for my yoke is mild and pleasant, and my load is light in weight.
Weary to the point of exhaustion, loaded with burdens, bending beneath their weight. He ALONE can give you the rest you need. But it is only as you learn from Him how think and live. It is only as you cast your life and your cares upon Him and take His in their place.
God’s Word – Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light
Young’s Literal Translation – Come unto me, all ye labouring and burdened ones, and I will give you rest, take up my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
“Ye laboring and burdened ones.” This sounds like a lifestyle of being burdened down. There are some who live a life of being continually burdened and laboring hard by the thought habits they habitually take. We can learn of Him how to live a free and abundant life. It is only to the degree we renew our minds and think God’s thoughts (God’s Word) instead of our own that we will live this life of reset Jesus is speaking of.
Ephesians 4:22-24 (Amplified Bible) – Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.
Paul speaks of the same thing here. Put aside your old nature. Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind. Constantly have a fresh mental and spiritual attitude. Put off the old man. Put on the new man.
The Message Bible – Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
“Get away with me,” Sometimes you have to get away from your normal routine or MAKE the time in your normal routine to get away with Him. This is how you can recover your life. He will show you what you need to know and teach you to live a life of rest and peace. Live a lifestyle of keeping company with Jesus every day of life, and you will learn to live freely and lightly.
He will show you the things are you doing wrong that produce the heaviness and tiredness and teach you how to change so that you can life a better life. He doesn’t just change you. He gives you thoughts of truth that you must take the time to learn and apply. And only as you change your thinking and apply what He reveals and teaches will your life get better.
Lord, I want to walk with you in the unforced rhythms of grace. You don’t put anything heavy or ill-fitting on me. If I am carrying something ill fitting, it isn’t what you want me to carry.
See post on HOW TO Cast your Cares on the Lord.