TAKING HIS YOKE
“Come to Me, all you who labor 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
Weary? Heavy Laden? Anxious? Confused?
Jesus offers us a rest for our souls. However, one of the main issues I have found is that I am trying to take His yoke while still being yoked to other things. The ‘other things’ can be expectations of me, people’s opinions, lies from the enemy, all the ‘should’ thoughts, shame, and so many things. Yokes are not just bad things or sin; they can be good things with wrong perspectives or lies that sound so true to the depths of our soul.
What are you yoked to and what is weighing you down?
We naturally listen to and are motivated by whatever we are yoked to! His voice is not like the other voices. He is gentle with us and always accessible. It is not too difficult, but it can feel that way. King David said that it was God’s gentleness that made him great (Psalm 18). We tend to be hard on ourselves and assume that the lies and people’s opinions are true. What if we identify them for what they truly are? Weights that He doesn’t want us to carry. Voices that He doesn’t want us to listen to.
Who are you listening to? What is motivating you?
He is gentle with His children. His voice is gentle. He motivates us with His compassion and His love. He is the most patient, joyful, compassionate, tender teacher. Isaiah 42:3 says it so well as it describes how Jesus serves His people, “a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish.” He is the One who kneels down to look His children in the eye with gentleness in the midst of their pain and weariness and says, “Come, let me hold you.” The other yoke motivates us with thoughts like ‘you should know better’ or ‘try harder’ or ‘you need to hold it all together.’
What if we let it all go?
He is longing for us to cast all our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). He loves this exchange. He isn’t waiting for us to figure it all out. He is aching for us to draw near to Him. He can be trusted with all of it and we can be safe in simply taking His yoke and learning from Him. We can presume upon His gentleness and His humility to meet us right where we are. Just as the sun is always shining, he is always gazing upon us. Come, let’s step out from under the weights and out of the shadows and let His gentleness make us great.
Come to Him. Take His Yoke. Learn. Find Rest.
