Reflecting back on the year 2023 can stir all sorts of emotions. For many, this was a year of joy, with births, growth, milestones, mendings, and love. For others it was a year of sorrow, with loss, mourning, struggles, suffering, and pain. My guess is, that for most, it was a mix of joyful hearts and heavy hearts, as we faced difficult and undesirable situations, struggles in our souls, and concerns about our world, be it politics, pandemics, or wars. I’ve spoken with a lot of people who have had heavy hearts this year, and heaviness remains as they contemplate what is to come in the year ahead.
We see examples of heavy hearts all throughout Scripture. When Naomi lost her husband and two sons, she had a heavy heart. When Job lost almost all that he had, his heart was heavy. When David was convicted over the awfulness of his sin against God and the painful consequences he had to endure as a result of it, he grieved intensely. When Joseph, the apple of Jacob’s eye, was gone, Jacob grieved for his son. When the prodigal son left his father’s home and chose wild living instead, his father was anguished in heart. When Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, died, they had heavy hearts.
We’ve all felt heavy hearts at times. This heaviness can arise as a result of physical pain or exhaustion, from illness, financial burdens, disunity in the family, a broken marriage, loss of a job, oppression, or from being uncertain with God’s plan. Many of us have asked God, “Why?” or “What are You doing?,” and we can develop heaviness of heart when we wonder whether God cares. But He does care; He always does!
While there is a time for heaviness, Jesus brings the only true hope that can wipe away the burdens and weariness of this world, and He offers that hope, help, and healing to all who trust Him. Now trusting Jesus doesn’t mean our circumstances will change right away, but it does change how we respond to our circumstances. We can go through hard times with a heart of peace, joy, and faith as we remember Jesus. So when the heaviness of life weighs us down, we need to look to Jesus and follow his instructions for dealing with a heavy heart.
Jesus Taught Us to Grieve With Him
Throughout the gospels, we see that Jesus grieved when He had a heavy heart. He wept for Lazarus. He cried for Jerusalem. And when He saw the world around Him and the pain that people encountered, He grieved!
“In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
Hebrews 5:7-9
Jesus isn’t indifferent or unmoved by our sorrow and pain, or by the tragic state of this world. He knows, and He understands. But because we don’t know when or how He is going to intervene, we must trust Him and learn what He wants to teach us during the heaviness of life. As Jesus walked this earth, and as He comforts us even now, He wants us to know that He grieves too, and He invites us to grieve with Him. When we grieve with Him and to Him, He meets us there and gives us hope for our heavy hearts.
Jesus Taught us to Rest With Him
Throughout the gospels, we see that when Jesus was weighed down by the heaviness of the world around Him, He sought time away from the burdens of life to rest. He is our perfect example.
Perhaps this past year wasn’t what you thought it would be, and maybe it left you exhausted and drained. It’s time to follow Jesus’ example and rest. Rest is an act of humility that Jesus modeled from creation throughout His earthly ministry. So when we have heavy hearts, we must act in faith, rest, and trust God with all that weighs us down. This year, take more time to rest from the weariness of your burdens and discouragements of this world. Rest confident that God is alive and active and that He cares for you and understands what you need.
“And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’ For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.”
Mark 6:31
Jesus Taught Us to Abide in Him
When we are connected to Jesus, we become nourished, and our strength and vitality grow. But when we disconnect from Him, we become like a leaf or a flower that withers and fades away, disconnected from its source of life.
It is important to connect with family and friends, and to gather together as a church body. That revitalizes our weary souls. But most important of all, we must connect deeply with Jesus. Make this a year where you abide in Him! Spend much time in His Word, pray to him, thank Him, worship Him, and share with Him the heaviness of your heart. Hide His word within you and speak it back to Him throughout the day. Stay connected to your vital source of life. Jesus encourages us to remain and abide in Him!
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:4–5
We have a choice with how we respond to our heavy hearts. We can either run from the Lord’s instructions and fall into all manners of wrong, unhealthy, and sinful thinking, speaking, and acting. Or, we can follow Jesus’ example when our hearts are heavy and grieve with Him, rest in Him, and abide in Him. Only by following him can we have hope for a heavy heart. He modeled that hope for us. He remains that hope for us. He has a present and future hope for us found in Him. So even if life feels heavy, don’t lose heart! Jesus is our wonderful hope for a heavy heart!