Hope for Hard TimesSample

Hope for the Weary

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

In 1995, I attended a Christian college leadership training camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The camp was two weeks long, with the first week designated for a few student leaders who would be trained to lead the campers attending the second week. Costs for the first week were offset by the work that we leaders did to fix and maintain the campground. 

One of the tasks I was assigned involved pulling underground cables. I still recall laboring—alone—to pull heavy cables in the heat of Colorado Springs that June. It was backbreaking work and the longer I did it, the more fatigued I became. At one point, feeling exhausted, I could not make any progress— the cable was not moving. I still remember wanting to give up. I pulled one more time—and the cable moved with ease! I turned around to find that some colleagues had joined me, transforming a difficult task into a relatively easy one.

In Matthew 11, Jesus extends an offer to his disciples. In exchange for the burdens and weights of life, God offers us his peace and his rest. This wonderful offer is captured in the 1855 hymn by Joseph Scriven, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”:       

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry 

Everything to God in prayer! 

As you pray, ask God to take away your burdens and give you his peace.