Women's Focus Ministries

The Footnote

Do you enjoy reading? Do you give yourself permission to relax and enjoy a book or favorite magazine? I love to read. Even during the craziness known as getting ready for Christmas I reread A Christmas Carol by Dickens (A surprisingly short story, by the way) and any other warm fuzzy book I come upon.

I appreciate when editors take the time to add footnotes to older stories to remind a modern reader what a particular word means or what an item was used for in the past. I feel a little more informed and a little more aware when I understand what the author was referring to originally.

As I am looking on the front page of the website www.biblegateway.com I see the verse of the day is:

“Matthew 11: 28 (NASB)

“Come to Me, all [a]who are weary and heavy-laden,

and I will give you rest.

Ah, thank You, Lord, for the reminder that we can come to You to receive rest from our weariness. Then I click on the “View in Context” button to read what scripture comes next. There is a footnote for verse 28 above, the words “all who are weary and heavy-laden” can also be read as “all who work to exhaustion.”

Wow, I agree I can be weary and heavy-laden and in need of His rest. But this footnote drove the truth of this scripture deep into my heart, showing me a wrong thought. My belief that if I just get ‘these few things’ done, then I can relax. It exposed me as one of “all who work to exhaustion.” But Lord, I need to get all these things done. How can I rest when so much depends upon me? Clean clothes, food, errands, children, church, pets, and work fill my days.

Very conveniently, I find the answer to my question in the next verse:

Matthew 11:29 (NASB)

“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.”

Dear Lord, thank You for making Your Word so simple and clear for me just when I need it. I desire to learn from You and to trade my yoke for Your yoke, so how do I do that? OK, I learn from You by being gentle and humble and reading Your word. Reality check: I cannot be gentle and humble in my own strength for long, so please help me to remember to read Your word every day so that my mind and heart will learn and be filled with Your truth. In Jesus name, amen.

Written by

Mary M. Wilkins