‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’

‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Rest for souls, rest for your soul – let us make it personal. Rest for your soul and my soul. In Job chapter 14, Job was considered in his time to be the most righteous man in this world. And in Job chapter 14 verse 1 he says, man, man that is born of a woman, his days are few and full of trouble, full of trouble. Your life and my life is full of troubles, incessant troubles. It is for some of us really trouble after trouble, day after day. There is conflict, internal conflict, external conflict. We are torn apart within and without. And again, the prophet Isaiah long ago said, there is no peace for the wicked.

So as long as we are still outside the kingdom of God, as long as we are spurning and rejecting the only one who could give us life and happiness, there is no way to be at peace. There is no way to be at rest. At rest with God, at rest with our conscience, at rest with the heavy guilt that is upon us. Oh, my dear friends, in the middle of all the negative I have just mentioned – life of a man, of a woman is full of troubles and there is no peace for the wicked – comes this wonderful invitation. It is the God who made heaven and earth. And I believe this is the most gracious, the most generous of all invitations. Come unto me, come unto me.