Are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus.

I’ve sung the lyrics to that song so many times.

Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus! He is a Friend that’s well known. You’ve no other such a Friend or Brother, tell it to Jesus alone!

Do you ever sing or hear a song so much that it becomes like rote memorization to you? You sing it but you don’t think about the meaning? I grew up singing wonderful hymns of the church every Sunday morning and night (and Wednesdays, and any other night I was at a church function!) and I found as I got older that many times I just went through the motions of singing the words, blending in with the choir or the congregation. I love singing hymns. I love singing the wonderful melodies and harmonies that have been the soundtrack of my life. But I admit that in the past I’ve sung the sacred words with no thought or feeling of what I was actually declaring in my song.

No more. I’ve recently started reading a hymn a day. Just simply reading the words to myself, or whispering them as a prayer to my Father in heaven. What a wonderful opportunity to study beautiful words each day! To not just read and appreciate the words, but to breathe them in, soak them up into my soul, and live them fully. One of the latest hymns I read was “Tell it To Jesus” by Edmund S. Lorenz (1876). It’s a song I’ve always liked, and I’ve even played and recorded it before. But this last time, I studied the words and felt the gentle push to share them with you.

“Are you weary, are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Are you grieving over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus. Do the tears flow down  your cheeks unbidden? Tell it to Jesus. Have you sin that to men’s eyes are hidden? Tell it to Jesus. Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow? Tell it to Jesus. Are you troubled at the thought of dying? For Christ’s kingdom are you sighing? Tell it to Jesus.

Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus, He is a Friend that’s well known. You’ve no other such a Friend or Brother, tell it to Jesus alone.”

Someone reading this right now is so weary that you don’t think you’re going to make it another step on this journey. Someone is so heavy hearted, so full of grief, that you barely even know your name right now. There may be one reading at this moment whose eyes are filling up and spilling over with troubles that seem impossible to overcome. Is there one who is anxious? Is the anxiety keeping you awake in the dark of night? Do you feel alone in this life? What about the one who is burdened with sin? The person who feels unworthy of telling any other soul what they’ve done?

Tell it to Jesus, friend.

I  believe that one of the reasons God sent His Son Jesus to walk this earth in a fully human form was because He knew we’d need Someone when we were weary. Someone who understands the weariness that seeps into our bones and sucks the life out of our spirits. God knew we’d need Someone who understands our anxieties…the worries that fill our minds and steal our daily joys. God knew we’d need Someone who would not only understand our temptations, but would take our sins on Himself.

You see, Jesus took off His glorious heavenly robes and put on our weary, heavy, burdened, anxious, injured skin. He knows. He understands what you are going through, even when you can’t even put two words together to explain it. You can tell Jesus your troubles by simply breathing His name when you have no other words, and He will know. He will heal. He will give peace that you can’t even understand.

And if it’s your sin you’re worried about…He already knows, friend. He’s already taken your sin and put it on Himself. Tell Him your sorry. Let Him have it and keep it and He’ll never bring it up again.

Sin, grief, anxiety…life…it makes us weary. I have friends right now who are sitting by the bedsides of their loved ones watching them fight for life. They are all so weary. I have loved ones who are grieving over losses and they are so weary. There are some people, me included, who get so overwhelmed with their busy lives that they are simply weary at the end of the day.

What about you? Are you weary? Tell it to Jesus. There is no other Friend or Brother like Him. Take a listen to these familiar words, friends, and feel His whisper breathing life back into your weary bones!