Come Unto Me All You Who Are Weary

     “Come unto me all you who are weary.”  This is Jesus’ call to each one of us, and it is reflected in the hymn, Come Unto ME, Ye Weary.  Once again, it is time for our Monthly Melody Discussion!  Were you able to listen to this hymn any this month?  If not, make sure you hear it before you go.

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 unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

     As usual, we are going to break down this hymn and look at it verse by verse, piece by piece.  I think that it can help us to get more out of it when we look at it one part at a time and really think about what the words are saying.  Oh, and something neat happened this month for my family with the Monthly Melody.  Make sure to read to the bottom so you don’t miss it!

Verse 1

“Come unto me, ye weary, 
And I will give you rest.”
O blessed voice of Jesus, 
Which comes to hearts oppressed!
It tells of benediction, 
Of pardon, grace, and peace,
Of joy that hath no ending, 
Of love which cannot cease.

“Come unto me, ye weary,
And I will give you rest.”

     Are you tired today? I don’t just mean physically, although you might be tired in that way too. But are you tired of trying to do right and failing? Are you tired of being overwhelmed and discouraged? Tired of sin and tired of yourself? Jesus is calling you. “Come unto me all you who are weary.”

     He wants to give you rest. It’s not something that you have to struggle and work for. That’s not rest. If we simply come to Him and take Him at His word, He will bless us with rest. Rest of soul. Rest of heart. Rest from our struggles as we let Him take control.

O blessed voice of Jesus, 
Which comes to hearts oppressed!

     What a blessing the kind voice of our loving Savior and Shepherd is! I’ve been reading the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 for the monthly reading challenge on More Than Just Reading. It reveals just how much love our Good Shepherd has for us as He daily cares for us and meets our needs.
When our hearts are oppressed, suffocating in the cares of this world, what a pleasant sound it is to hear a loving voice calling us out of the struggle into His blessed rest. “Come unto me all you who are weary.” This is His loving call to each one of us.

It tells of benediction,
Of pardon, grace, and peace,

     All of this and more is in the heart of our Saviour for us if we will come to Him and receive His rest. He wants to bless us, forgive us for our past blunderings and sin, give us so much more than we deserve, and put his perfect peace that passes all understanding in our hearts.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

Of joy that hath no ending,
Of love which cannot cease.

    Not always does He want our hearts to be calm and at rest in His peace, but He always wants us to be filled with joy at what He has done for us! We can daily rejoice in His goodness and faithfulness. He is faithful. Notice what the song says, “Of love which cannot cease.” God’s for us cannot cease because He never changes. Love is a part of Who He is, and He never changes.

     God’s love for you never changes. You cannot do one thing to make God love you more or less. How He shows His love may change depending on whether or not you are walking with Him, but His love for you will never change. Always He will have a heart overflowing with love to you in spite of your shortcomings, which we all have.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Verse 2

“Come unto me, ye wanders,                                                                                                                                                                      And I will give you light.”
O loving voice of Jesus, 
Which comes to cheer the night!
Our hearts were filled with sadness, 
And we had lost our way;
But thou hast brought us gladness, 
And songs at break of day.

“Come unto me, ye wanderers,
And I will give you light.”

     All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

     We have all gone astray and done wrong. Walking away from God, we lost our way and disobeyed His holy law. We were lost and had no way to get back to Him. What a dark and gloomy picture.

O loving voice of Jesus, 
Which comes to cheer the night!

     Right into this gloom comes the loving voice of Jesus. He’s calling us: showing us the path to Himself. We no longer have to grope our way aimlessly, but we can answer His call and come into the light of His truth.

Our hearts were filled with sadness,
And we had lost our way;
But thou hast brought us gladness,
And songs at break of day.

     It’s not fun to be lost. I’ve been lost before, not seriously, but it’s a little disconcerting when you don’t know where you are or how to get to where you need to be. And out on a dark night, being lost would be truly terrifying, more than enough to fill our hearts with sadness.

     But oh, the beauty of daylight dawning and bringing with it the call of a loving Father Who has come to show us the way home. It brings hope and gladness and makes us break forth into a song of praise and thankfulness!

Verse 3

“Come unto me, ye fainting,
And I will give you life.”
O peaceful voice of Jesus,
Which comes to end our strife!
The foe is stern and eager,
The fight is fierce and long;
But thou hast made us mighty,
And stronger than the strong.

“Come unto me, ye fainting,
And I will give you life.”

     We all get tired. Life gets busy, trials come, and we get worn down. Jesus comes to bring us the fresh vitality in our souls that we need to continue serving Him. If we will hear His voice and come aside to Him and His Word, we will find the refreshment and strength for a new day of service. Still He stands with open arms calling “Come unto me all you who are weary.”

O peaceful voice of Jesus,
Which comes to end our strife!
The foe is stern and eager,
The fight is fierce and long;

     The Christian life is a battle. Our enemy never gives us any rest but is always looking for new ways to trip us up. But, don’t give up! Our Captain is by our side ready to help us resist every attack. He never gets weary but stays ready to help give us victory and peace.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11

But thou hast made us mighty,
And stronger than the strong.

     Our strength is never enough to resist an attack of Satan, but we don’t have to rely on our strength. Jesus makes us strong and gives us the power and ability to do right and overcome. He gives us the victory!

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Romans 8:37

Verse 4

“And whosoever cometh 
I will not cast him out.”
O patient love of Jesus,
Which drives away our doubt;
Which though we be unworthy, 
Of love so great and free,
Invites us very sinners, 
To come, dear Lord, to thee!

“And whosoever cometh 
I will not cast him out.”

     We can rest on the promise of Jesus that if we come in answer to His call, He will never turn us away. Even when we stray once again, when we come back He will be waiting to forgive us and wrap His loving arms around us.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37

O patient love of Jesus,
Which drives away our doubt;

     Jesus has more patience than we can imagine. Rather than giving up on us because we don’t answer His call right away or stray from His side once again, He continues to show us His love. Don’t fear to come to Him. He loves you and wants you by His side! It is not our goodness that causes Him to love us but HIS goodness.

Which though we be unworthy,
Of love so great and free,

     We do not deserve God’s love. Each one of us has sinned. We all went away from God before we were saved, and we still stray and try to do our own will. Yet knowing all of this, Jesus gave His life for us so that we could be restored to fellowship with His Father. We are unworthy of such love. All that we can do is fall at Jesus’ feet, answering His loving call, and give ourselves to Him.

Invites us very sinners, 
To come, dear Lord, to thee!

     The call has not stopped. “Come unto me all you who are weary.” Don’t keep the Lord waiting. Right now, stop and thank Him for what He has done for you. Ask Him to take control of your day, to show you His will for you, and to help you to follow it.

Story Time

     Thank you for joining me for another Monthly Melody Discussion! As promised, I have a little story for you about my family and the Monthly Melody. My family all learns the Monthly Melody with me. We sing along with the video almost every night in family devotions. But that’s not all the singing we do together.

     On Sundays (and occasionally in devotions), we have been singing through the hymnal. At least the songs that we know. There are quite a few songs that we don’t know and skip over. Well, last Sunday one of the songs that we came to was quite familiar: “Come Unto Me Ye Weary.” It was our Monthly Melody! If we had come to that song before this month, it would have been one of them that we would have skipped over and missed out on. Instead, we got to sing it together.

     That has been one of my goals with the Monthly Melody. I wanted to help people learn new hymns that they can sing. It was so neat to see that happening!

(Disclaimer: While I enjoyed the video of this particular hymn and wanted to share it with you, this does not mean that I endorse every video on this channel.)

     Would you like to learn some new hymns so that you don’t have to skip over them when you’re looking through the hymn book?  I would love to have you join me for the Monthly Melody!  Just sign up and I’ll let you know when our next hymn comes out.

Let’s Chat!

Which verse of this song spoke to your heart?  Was there a line or two that you got something out of and would like to share?

In Christ,

Bethany