“Gimme Shelter” by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones
Psalm 61:1-4 (NIV) 1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.2 From the ends of the earth I call to you,I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.3 For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.4 I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I am a sucker for a musical hook, and I have to rank the Rolling Stones as one of the best in the business for figuring out how to pull an audience in within the first few measures of a song. Usually, it’s some catchy guitar riff played against Keith’s open tuned guitar, but in the case of this song the use of a guiro and a reverb drenched guitar immediately bring forth a feeling of tension and a march forward towards some impending doom. And what a way to tackle the subject matter! The lyrics don’t bother with details but instead simply invite the listener to look at the world around them, a world right outside their own front door that is falling apart. The song continues to build climaxing with a background vocal that goes down in history as one of the most pure, authentic, and emotional moments ever captured on tape in rock history. Merry Clayton’s cracking vocal at the 3:00 mark punctuates the seriousness of the subject matter and Mick’s plea for protection from the world around him.
Life is hard; there’s no other way to say it. We live in a broken world. We think we have it all figured out most days and then out of nowhere, the bottom falls out. You may find yourself wondering how “they,” the friends, neighbors or influencers on social media have it all figured out when you are left facing struggle after struggle. But the reality is we are all fighting a battle of some kind, even if you can’t see the fight your neighbors are currently in. Some are simply better at camouflage.
Where do you go for shelter when the storms of life become too overwhelming? Is it social media? Amazon? The refrigerator? Drugs, alcohol, or even television? Maybe for you, it’s more subtle and looks like retreating to the garage or den to simply be alone inside your head for a while…at the expense of tucking in your children or spending time with your spouse. In moderate doses the case can be made that our shelters are just that, a place to protect us from those storms until they’ve passed. They do offer comfort while the storm is raging after all. So, what’s wrong with these shelters of our own choosing?
The problems arise when we turn these temporary shelters into our permanent residence. The shelters we seek in excess can become the very storm we are trying to shield ourselves from. The shelters of this world are temporary. But our God has offered a shelter that is not temporary. It is not of this world, so it will not wither and decay or lose the luster and shine that our self-made shelters of refuge always do. God’s shelter is everlasting and as Jesus said, “a yoke that is easy and light.”
But for many of us, the yoke implies a lack of freedom. We equate a yoke to a shackle. We do not like to be “yoked” to anything or anyone! Nobody, not even God is going to tell us where, when, or how to live our life! But look at Jesus’ words again. He said his yoke is easy and the burden is light. He’s offering to carry our load and simply inviting us to hitch ourselves to Him, so we don’t carry the heavy loads this life brings on our own. He’s offering to steer and guide us through the storm and offer shelter. He knows all too well the burdens life here on Earth brings, but He also knows the path to get to the other side in one piece. Too often we shun the notion of being controlled by anything or anyone because our pride demands our independence. It’s only later we realize the yoke we’ve hitched ourselves to has a name like addiction, isolation, laziness, adultery, or workaholic that we truly begin to realize just how heavy those burdens Jesus invited us to consider really are.
Jesus makes a few other very subtle but profound statements in His offer. The first, “come to me ALL who are weary and burdened.” He didn’t make the offer to those affiliated with a specific political party, sexual orientation, pay scale, or nationality. He said ALL. Everyone. The only requirement is to simply seek Him because He is the only place you will find the peace and shelter you are seeking. He and the easy yoke offered is the shelter from the storm and He isn’t checking your voter registration card or any other “qualifier” we humans like to place on folks down here on Earth.
He then goes on to invite us to take His yoke and LEARN from him. He never requires us to seek shelter after qualifying ourselves with whatever criteria we have convinced ourselves is a prerequisite for His love and grace. He offers to teach us after we hitch ourselves to His yoke. Unfortunately, some people hitch themselves to the yoke of their own self-righteousness and become the self-appointed gatekeeper for Jesus’ offer to everyone. When that happens, people are turned away from the one true shelter in this world. They are effectively being told they aren’t worthy of the light and the easy yoke God has offered. When earthly made prerequisites for God’s easy yoke are established, folks are left with no option but to go right back into the storm they are seeking shelter from. They are left to find their own shelter and to carry their own heavy burden. That is not what Jesus did 2000 years ago and it’s not what He does today.
Consider the invitation Jesus made. The burdens in this world will come. They always do. Consider the offer made 2000 years ago to take up an easy yoke that ensures a lighter burden. Consider the one whose yoke is light and burdens are easy when seeking shelter.