Wearing His Yoke

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me

 (Matthew 11:29)

How much do you know about yokes?  Chances are not a lot, nor have you spent much time thinking about them unless you grew up on a farm or have an interest in old farm implements.

My earliest recollection of yokes goes back over 70 years to a Sunday School classroom where, as a preschooler, I saw a picture of a primitive farmer plowing a rocky field with a team of yoked oxen. I can’t recall anything about the Bible story or the passage that went with it, but that picture made quite an impression on my young mind.

I remember how I felt looking at those poor animals wearing a heavy wooden yoke.  It seemed as though I could feel it around my own neck, weighing me down and restricting my oxygen intake.

Many years later I realized the impact that picture had on me, and how it was tainting my reaction to passages that refer to wearing a yoke, like Matthew 11:29. I became painfully aware of a subconscious aversion to wearing a yoke, even Christ’s.  Then and there I asked for, and God gave me a more biblically correct understanding of yokes.

Yokes are not meant to be cruel, nor are they a form of punishment.  When properly fitted, their weight and size are appropriate to the bearer and do not restrict the intake of air, water or food.

Yokes are used as a means of controlling the wearer’s movement in order to accomplish certain purposes.  Yokes may be singular while others join two or more together in order to achieve a common goal. 

We all wear yokes of one kind or another. We may view them as restrictive, keeping us from being or doing what we think is best.  We react by struggling and straining, turning our heads from side to side, looking for a way out.  But about all we get for our efforts are a raw neck and a sore back.

Self-discipline is difficult to achieve and maintain on a consistent basis.  Left to our own devices, we often make limited progress, and even then it may be in the wrong direction.

Jesus offers a solution to our dilemma.  He invites us to accept the yoke which He has specifically designed to fit our situation.  By agreeing to wear it, we acknowledge His authority over us, His right to harness our energies and to direct us according to His purposes for our lives.

Submission to another’s authority does not come easily for many of us.  But it is preferable to carrying the loads of life in our own strength.  The yokes we place on ourselves are often heavy, but Jesus assures us “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

“Why did we stop?” the oxen asked the farmer at the plow.
“Because you need to pace yourself and I must teach you how.”
“The way is steep and I don’t feel like I am gaining ground.”
“Just keep on giving it your best and you’ll attain the mound.”
“What is that sudden load I feel that’s slowed me to a grind?”
“An unearthed rock that serves to strengthen body, soul and mind.”
“Why can’t we quit? I’m very tired, and look how low the sun.”
Patiently the answer came, “This field is almost done.”
We do not understand delays and hardships that we bear,
but we can trust the reasons to the One Whose yoke we wear.   
Life has many burdens to destroy the heart of man,
but, Lord, You say in Scripture You have a better plan.
You say to bring our burdens and the yoke that weighs us down,
and You’ll give us ones more suited for the place where we are bound.
So, Lord, I trade my burden for the yoke that I’m to wear.
Help me learn what You are teaching, and plow Your field with care.
                                                                                               Glenda Collins Inman