If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed and like you just wish that you could run away from it all you are not alone. I would often imagine myself hidden away on some desert island far away from all the pressures of work and home life.
But, we all know that life is never going to be without its challenges and that whilst we may have the joy of a beach holiday once in a while this is not the everyday experience for most of us.
No matter how hard we try we are just never going to be able to run away from life’s problems. On the one hand we are not to let the worries and cares of this life strangle out the fruit in our lives. But on the other hand we are not to bury our head in the sand on an imaginary beach and just hope all our problems go away.
Jesus’ invitation to the burdened
“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”” Matthew 11:28-30
A yoke is a piece of wood that is placed over the necks of two animals and attached to the cart or plough that they are to pull. Whilst on earth we will always carry some kind of load to pull, it is unavoidable. Jesus never promised us a constant beach holiday, but He invites us into His yoke.
The humility and gentleness of God never ceases to amaze me. How Jesus the King of kings and Lord of lords would be willing to be yoked to me, to carry my burden to be associated with the least. He really is the good shepherd, He really does love His people, He cares for us.
Learning whilst leaning on Jesus
If you feel confused and you do not know which way to go next. If your problems seem too overwhelming and too big to handle, do not be afraid, we do not have to do life alone, we are invited into the yoke of Christ.
Just as an experienced ox would often be yoked to a younger ox so the younger could learn so being yoked to Jesus means that we get to learn from Him. It is through our relationship with Jesus that we learn to deal effectively with the burdens and challenges of life that come our way.
We have the load bearer with us, the enabler. The one who limits every heart ache and burden. He is our very life. He is the one who takes the load and permanently changes us and our life.
You do not have to bear burdens by yourself and go it alone, whatever you are facing you have Jesus to share the weight and take the biggest part of the load. In this beautiful passage of scripture, we can hear Him say that He will take the weight of our burdens and in exchange He will give us His peace as we walk in step with Him.
Surrendering the load to Jesus
Something happens in our heart and our life when we surrender all of our cares to Jesus and look to Him as our help.
When we trust that burden to Him, knowing that He can handle everything and anything.
As a child of God, when we are yoked with Christ, we do not face situations alone. For God has said “I will never leave you nor forsake you” Hebrews 13:5.
The yoke binds us together with Him and there is nothing that you could face today that you and Jesus could not handle together. Being yoked to Him, He promises to meet every need.
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” Psalms 23:2 NKJV
God will lead us into provision, peace and safety but we cannot be yoked to Jesus and yet pulling in our own direction.
Let Jesus take the lead
Sometimes I have found that it is my own pride that says I can handle burdens alone, but I have found that this only produces anxiety and stress. Humility leads to peace and enables us to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.
True peace is only found in Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace, He enables us to rest. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Don’t trust in feelings, but trust in God, we walk by faith in Him and not by anxious fears that can sometimes assault our minds. Rest is found when we surrender all to Jesus.
We are invited to learn from Him who is lowly in heart and in doing so we are promised to find rest. But pride leads to struggle, because we are still trying to do it our own way, trying to do it at our own pace. This could be a faster pace than what God is giving us to go at. Outpacing Him, running into things but just running around in a big circle not getting anywhere.
“Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle.” Jeremiah 8:6 NKJV
Yoked to Jesus or yoked to the enemy
If we are suffering with stress as part of our regular routine, if we are often feeling frustrated with ourselves and if these feelings form a familiar pattern, we must ask ourselves are we yoked to Jesus?
“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:30
We must discern, with the help of the Holy Spirit if these burdens have their origin in our loving father or the enemy of our souls. There comes a point where we have to let things go and release them into His hands, trusting Him to act and to preserve us.
Even if we could just about handle life’s many burdens, God wants us to conserve energy to serve Him. The enemy will seek to burn you out and misdirect your energies and focus.
Submission to God leads to true rest
We can’t be yoked to the Lord and yet be pulling in the wrong direction. There must be submission, we must be willing to come under Jesus’ leadership completely.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 NKJV
But what exactly are we to deny? There is no fuel for pride when we are yoked to Him because He takes all the credit and glory, not us. But in this yoke, He takes all the strain too.
This yoke is not about ‘help me’, this yoke is about allowing Him to ‘take the lead’, it is quite different. It is not about getting Jesus to serve our ends, but about us serving His ends.
“There is a way that seems right to a man but it leads to death” Proverbs 16:25. We can be assured that Jesus shows to us the path of life, this is why we should listen and obey.
If we learn and lean on Him, if we do things His way following His lead we will indeed find that rest for our souls. The responsibility for our worries and cares becomes God’s, obedience is ours. This is the prescription for God’s service and to avoid burn out, we MUST be yoked to Christ.
Prayer
Father thank you for sending your son Jesus, thank you for sending us your Holy Spirit, so that I never need walk alone. Thank you Jesus that I never need be lost when you are walking with me. I surrender my yoke, my ways of trying to deal with life’s problems and cares and I choose to enter your yoke instead. I thank you that never will you leave me, never will you forsake me. I know that as I walk with you one step at a time you will give me all the direction and information that I need day by day. I thank you for your word the Bible, please guide me in your paths. You are the good shepherd of my soul and I ask for your help and direction this day.