How can a yoke be easy?

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Read that again. “Come to me all.” Not some. Not those of you who have figured out how to solve the problem. No. All. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,” and I will give you all the answers.

Wait.

That’s not what He said. “I will give you rest.” That’s a promise. He didn’t say He would take your burden or change your circumstances. He said He would give you rest. A break maybe. A chance to sit and catch your breath before you go back to work. Restorative rest.

“Take my yoke upon you.” Do you know what a yoke is? It’s a special harness that connects two beasts of burden, working animals, to each other and also to whomever is driving the team. When two animals are yoked together, they must work together. They have to go at the same speed and in the same direction, but they each only have to pull half the weight.

There’s also a person driving the team. Someone behind to whom the animals are connected. That is the person who determines the speed, the direction, and the duration of their work. That person keeps them moving, tells them when to stop, and how fast to go.

Why do farmers work that way? Well, myriad reasons really. It could be that the work is too much for one animal, or it could be done faster with two, but also, the animals usually yoked are herd animals. They are uneasy when they’re alone and separated from their herd. They naturally travel with at least one other animal, even just grazing around the pasture. Next time you’re driving through the country, look out in the fields. Sheep and cows, even horses, naturally stay together. Rarely will you see an animal off alone by choice. So when yoked together, each ox finds comfort in the presence of the other.

A yoke is also used for control, guidance, and learning. If one of the animals knows the ropes of the job and another is new, yoking them together is a tool for teaching the rookie how the work goes. It also keeps either animal from straying off or going off course.

The yoke is, however, only for work. It is not for “off duty” times. Of course during short breaks in the middle of a work day it wouldn’t be worthwhile to unhook the team both because it would take too much time and because it is easier to keep the team yoked than to possibly fight to “reyoke” them when lunch is over. You would never, however, see animals put to pasture at the end of the day still yoked together.

Another important quality of a yoke, which was brought to my attention by one of the lovely ladies who helped me edit this devotional, is that a yoke is made specifically for the animal wearing it. It’s not a one size fits all…or even one size fits most prospect. The yoke is exactly tailored to the specific animal that will shoulder the job.

How does this apply to us? Well, Jesus was using a metaphor that the listeners would understand. They would have known what hard work was and the importance of someone other than the oxen being in charge of the direction and pace of the plow. They would have understood that wearing a yoke did mean hard work, but it also meant help; either help from the animal next to you, or from the one holding the reins.

It also means the yoke made for me was not the one made for you. What’s asked of me is not what’s asked of you. We can help carry each other’s burdens, but we each must do the task God gives us. I have certain work, and even burdens, in my life that I must carry, but I’m not meant to carry all of the world’s burdens. Remember that the command was to “take the yoke upon you”…not “stand there while I press you into service.”

For us, it means someone else is in charge and we will find the most success if we submit to His direction and pace rather than tiring ourselves out and even possibly hurting ourselves fighting against Him. It is also a promise that the burden, though there, is light and He promises there is rest.

If the Divine Master knows how hard to drive the team, how fast and in what direction to go, then He also knows how to give us perfect and restorative rest when we need it.

Where are you working against the yoke in your life? Where are you fighting against the pace or the work itself that God has for you? Perhaps against the person in the other half of your yoke? What’s one way you could trust and work with God rather than against God in your season of life?

God You are so good. You have loved me into existence for a purpose and have equipped me with the spirit of power and love and self-control that I need to do Your Will in my life. Thank You for ordering even the smallest details of what I need to do Your Will including fitting me perfectly with the yoke that will guide my work. You are a firm but gentle driver. Please help me feel the presence of Your guidance and the relief of Your restorative rest. Amen.