This title sounds like an oxymoron. How can a burden be easy? Two oxen pulling the same load move in unison and exert less energy in the process. Walking lock-step with Jesus helps us as well. When we merge with Jesus, our burdens are easy, because He is yoked with us, and He is carrying the brunt of our burdens (Matthew 11:28-30).
Life is often hard for most of us; yet, walking in obedience to God’s plans for us makes life easier and more fulfilling. We are not called to make our plans and ask God to bless them. His blessings are guaranteed when we walk in His ways.
Disobeying the leading of God’s Spirit will place us between a “rock and a hard place.” We make life harder on our self by ignoring God’s plans for us and by doing our own thing instead. On His straight and narrow road, we reap peace and joy regardless of our circumstances.
When we live, move and have our being in Jesus (Acts 17:28), we will travel on His straight and narrow road, and avoid many pitfalls that are intrinsic on the broad way, which leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). We enter God’s rest and enjoy His presence in us and with us (Hebrews 4:10; Exodus 33:14).
When we walk in the Spirit, we have peace in our soul like a meandering stream, and gentle rhythmic waves of the ocean (Isaiah 48:18). We flow effortlessly over, around and between the rocky hindrances of life, and we barely know that they are there.
The boundaries that God’s Word puts around us keep us flowing in the direction that He needs for us to go, in order for us to accomplish His purpose for us in this world. We praise and worship Him in the good times and in the bad ones too.
Prayer:
Father God, we grow to love You more each day, and to depend on You for Your direction through each moment of it. We totally surrender to Your will for us, and we yoke up with You to carry the burden that You created for us, which is easy and light (Matthew 11:30). We seek Your face with our whole heart (Psalm 27:8; Jeremiah 29:13). We know that You are near us when we seek You, and we consult You for Your direction for each moment of our day (Psalm 145:18; Proverbs 3:5-6).
When we have a pure heart, You show Yourself to us in an intimate union through Your Spirit (Matthew 5:8). Lead us by Your truth and teach us Your ways. You are the God of our salvation, and we wait on You throughout the day (Psalms 25:5-9). Show us Your paths, because in Your presence is joy that defies words. Walking beside you are eternal pleasures that begin at the moment of our salvation in Christ (Psalm 16:11, 25:4-5).
Thought for the Day:
As we rest in the Lord, breathe deeply, relax, and patiently wait on the Lord’s timing and direction, we have no need to grow weary, to worry, or to fret about the circumstances in our life; we simply go boldly to the throne of God’s grace and obtain His mercy and help in our times of need.
- Psalm 37:7-9; Hebrews 4:16
