Why does God hide things from some people and not others? Have you ever felt like God wasn't showing you everything you needed to know? Why is that? Why do we sometimes feel like he holds all the cards, and we hold none?
It says in Matthew 11:25-26 At
that time, Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
In this scripture, Jesus is having a conversation with
his Father. Jesus was upset with the lack of repentance in the towns where he performed miracles. He's thanking the Father for hiding himself from those who are too proud to go to him and repent of their sins. Little children are not proud, their hearts are open, and they are openly sorry for wrongdoings.
Knowledge has the potential to be egocentric. It says in Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Don't let knowledge become your prideful stumbling block. There's good pride and not-so-good pride. It's good to take pride in your work, your home, or pride in your appearance and in your life in general, we are representatives of God. But when we refuse help because we are too proud or won't admit being wrong because we don't want to look weak or inadequate, that's what Jesus is talking about.
One of my favorite scriptures has to be Matthew 11:28-30 "Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
The invitation is to all, Jesus says, "Come to me, ALL who are weary and burdened." Not just to those who have their life figured out or those who have forgiven others and themselves. It's to all of us; we all have a burden or are weary from life. And it doesn't matter what that burden is; it could be a job, financial responsibility, health problem or life in general. With Jesus, it doesn't matter what it is; if it's important to you, it's important to Him.
When Jesus says take my yoke, the definition used in the bible is; A device fitted on the neck of oxen to bind to them the traces by which they might draw the plow. When they had a new ox that needed to be broken in, they would place him with an older one so the new one wouldn't bear all the weight alone. This helped the new oxen get used to the process before carrying this weight himself.
Jesus is like that with us; he wants to help us carry our load. He's partnering with us. He wants us to attach ourselves to Him, not other things or people. We sometimes lean on others or such things as
substances or alcohol. Jesus is inviting us to connect ourselves to him.
Learning from Jesus means we allow him to teach us through His Word, opening our hearts to Him. We can't just add Jesus to what we do; it's about surrendering to Jesus. It's all about telling him, "I don't want to do this life without you, Lord." Once we do that and learn to do God's will and not our own, that's when the yoke is easy, and we feel God's peace.
Realizing I do not have to be in control of everything, is something I'm still working on. I'm also learning to give it all to God. There are days when I realize I'm not as upset about certain things as I used to be. I'm not so easily offended as I used to be either; it's genuinely a peaceful gift to receive from God. I highly recommend taking Jesus up on his invitation to "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Amen.
Let's Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your invitation to come to you. We get so much in return when we trust and go to you. Thank you, Father, for loving us the way you do and caring for us. We can learn about you and get closer to you through your Word. When we do that, we find your rest, Lord, and nothing is better than that. We love you, Lord. In Jesus Holy name, we pray. Amen.
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