"I will drive the invader from the north far away from you and drive him into an arid, desolate land..." Joel 2:20

“Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud!

Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

Yahweh has repealed your sentence;

he has driven your enemies away.

Yahweh, the king of Israel, is in your midst;

you have no more evil to fear.”

Zephaniah 3:14-15

“I have taken away your misfortune,

no longer need you bear the disgrace of it.

I am taking action hear and now against your oppressors

When the time comes I will rescue the lame,

and gather the strays,

and I will win them praise and renown

when I restore their fortunes.”

Zephaniah 3:18b-19

“One of the criminals hanging there abused him. 'Are you not the Christ?' he said. 'Save yourself and us as well.' But the other spoke up and him. 'Have you no fear of God at all?' he said. 'You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, he said, 'remember me when you come into your kingdom.' 'Indeed, I promise you,' he replied 'today you will be with me in paradise.'

'It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle; and when Jesus had cried out in a loud voice, he said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit'. With these words he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:39-46)

One of the last acts Jesus did before He died was to lift the burdens of a sinner deserving of death and provide him with the comfort of knowing that he would have a place in His eternal kingdom. 

No matter what we have done, where we have been or what we deserve, Jesus is there to lift our burdens and provide us comfort when we turn to Him.

Micah proclaims in Micah 7:8-10,

“Do not goat over me, my enemy:

though I have fallen, I shall rise;

though I live in darkness,

Yahweh is my light.

I must suffer the anger of Yahweh,

for I have sinned against him,

until he takes up my cause

and rights my wrongs;

he will bring me out int the light

and I shall rejoice to see the rightness of his ways.

When my enemy sees it,

she will be covered with shame,

she who said to me, 'Where is Yahweh your God?'

My eyes will goat over her;

she will be trampled underfoot like mud in the streets.”

Sometimes what we are burdened down not so much with our sin as  busyness and the demands of life.  Sometimes we can be over busy with really good things.    How much more will He lift these burdens.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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."

He invites us to come and be refreshed in His love no matter where we are at.He is a place of shelter, our comfort, our strength, and where we find rest.

Isaiah asks in Is. 40:28-29,
"Have you not known?  Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth,
does not faint or grow weary;
there is no searching of His understanding.

He gives power to the faint and weary,
and to him who has no might He increases strength
[causing it to multiply and making it to abound]."

Lord, let us find our rest in You.