In Matthew 11:29 Jesus commands us to; “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” I must confess; I have read this so many times over the years, and always had questions as to why I would want to take one heavy yoke off and put another on. Don’t you think it would make so much more sense for the Lord to say; “Take off your yoke and you will find rest, take off that burden and run and be free?”
To understand Jesus’ intentions, we must look back at that yoke placed on the neck of the working oxen. A collar linked two working oxen together and that was then hitched to a plow. When a young ox was broken in, he would be tethered to a bigger, experienced ox. During this time of training the new ox would learn how to walk in step with the older ox, how to work as a team, and here’s the kicker, this brand new, young ox carried no burden at all! His ‘training yoke’ was fashioned in such a way that the big, experienced ox would carry the whole load, the young ox was there to simply learn!
When we are yoked to Christ, He carries the burden! We are there to simply learn from the Master, to go in the direction He takes, to walk in step with the Savior. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” It is a place where we ‘cast our burdens upon Him,’ take His training yoke and learn from Him. What a beautiful picture of Jesus’ desire for intimacy with us, our wonderful Savior wants to walk so closely with us until we are at the point where we can sense if He will turn left or right, walk up into the mountain or down into the valley! A time of learning the mysteries and secrets of His ways!
Today if your yoke is heavy, feels hard or is a burden, cast your cares upon Him, take His easy yoke and surrender to the leading of your precious Redeemer. Allow Jesus to carry your burdens while you learn to walk in step with Him!
Claire's Prayer 