Knowing When to Make a Shift

By Alexandra Copeland

Matthew 11:28-30(NLT) is very well-known, and it is also one of the most beautiful and magnanimous invitations from Jesus Christ. In verse 28, he invites us to “28 Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Most of us have endured heavy burdens at some point in our lives, and there are a good many people going through them right now. Some people feel as if they are the devil’s punching bag, that they take one step forward and two steps backward, and they can’t catch a break. A lot of us suffer in silence. We don’t speak about our insecurities, fears, and pain to anyone, because we don’t think anyone would understand exactly what we’re going through. The isolation can become suffocating, like four walls are closing in on you, because you just can’t figure things out. This is one of the occasions where we really need to take Jesus Christ up on his offer.

God’s Word assures us that our High Priest, Jesus Christ, understands our weaknesses and shortcomings. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that our Lord and Master understands everything that we go through because when he was living on earth, he faced all the same tests of life that we do; the difference between us and him is that he never sinned. Jesus Christ has the answer for all of our problems, and he wants to help us. He also wants us to grow spiritually. This is sometimes the piece that you and I either neglect or miss. When we gave our lives to God, we signed up for His agenda. It was the absolute best thing we could have ever done, because Heavenly Father always knows best. The difference between success and failure is always measured by our humility to accept and accommodate this truth; God always knows best!

In Matthew 11:29, Jesus Christ tells us to take his yoke upon ourselves and learn about him, learn how he gracefully moves and maneuvers through our situations and circumstances. He tells us to let him teach us, because he knows exactly what we need to learn in order to move from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ in our spiritual growth and maturity. Sometimes, we’re not all that interested in learning what we need to. We want what we want, when we want it. We have an agenda that is causing us to go in a direction that may be harmful to us in the long run.

The Apostle Paul is a very good example of what this looks like. Acts 9 tells us that at one time he was an enemy of Christ. Not only this, but he caused great harm and death to many Christians. God had a plan for Paul’s life, and it was completely different from the one that Paul, then Saul, was following. Before God changed his name to Paul, the Apostle had a way of thinking and behaving that was diametrically opposed to his destiny. He had planned his life one way, but God had another way in mind. This begs us to examine ourselves from time to time, to make sure that we are in alignment with God’s agenda. Roadblocks often happen when we’re headed in the wrong direction, and it is necessary for us to ask the Lord if we need to make a shift. Before his encounter with Christ, Paul thought he was doing all the right things. It is extremely hard to imagine, but he thought he was actually doing what God wanted. How wrong Paul was in his thinking and actions. He needed to make a drastic change, and sometimes we do as well.

Change is a very necessary part of life. It can be volatile, because sometimes it comes in the form of obstacles that should force us to rethink what we’re doing. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that there is a path before every person, and it seems right, but it will end in destruction. We need to make sure we’re really hearing from the Lord and following the path He desires us to be on. Hiccups are not just darts from the devil, they are sometimes an indication that we need to change trajectories. Paul hit a brick wall on the road to Damascus. He was on his way to do some real damage to God’s people, but he encountered Jesus, and it flipped the script on his agenda in a major way. The severity of the circumstances may not be the same with us as it was with the Apostle Paul, but the message is clear that sometimes we need to make a shift.

God knows our past, He sees everything that is happening in our present, and He holds our tomorrows. There’s not one detail about our lives that escapes His attention. In the Old Testament, He told His people in Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT), “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”  God doesn’t change. He’s the same today as He was then, and His plan to bless us and see us prosper is still in effect. There are things about our future that we couldn’t possibly know, but Heavenly Father is looking out for us. He’s taking steps today to protect us in future situations that we have no clue about. He’s preparing us spiritually for the blessings He’s stored up, so that in due season, we’ll reap a harvest that is greater than we could have ever imagined.

We have a tendency to flip out a little bit when troubling circumstances come our way. Some of them are extremely painful, and will bring us to the edge. This is the place where we need to release the wheel to our Lord Jesus Christ. And in so doing, we must also recognize that spiritual life in Christ does not afford us with the comfort of remaining the same year after year. We need to make a shift, so that we are prepared for the next level of spiritual growth, and all the blessings that come with it. ■

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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.