The word “yoke” can be foreign to those of us living in an industrialized nation.

Basically, a yoke is a piece of wood that is used to hold two animals together, usually oxen, to help them share the load in pulling a till or a buggy of some sort.

The key here is that the yoke allows the animals to support each other in pulling the heavy weight.

As we live our lives, we are often times yoked by many things. We might be yoked with a personal decision that is weighing heavy on us.

We might even be yoked with a spouse who helps us in the hard times. We can even be yoked to sin as the Israelites were with Baal (Numbers 25:3). No matter how you look at it, we are yoked to something, whether good or bad.

Jesus tells us to come and take his yoke and we will find rest. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t say he will take our burdens and attach his yoke to it as we stand by and watch.

No, he takes us under his yoke and carries those burdens with us along the way.

In turn, he takes the majority of the burden and makes it “light” for us. We also “learn” from Jesus as we carry the burden with him.

This allows us to learn to change from the inside instead of repeating the same wrong things over and over. Is there something pulling you down that you haven’t given to Jesus today?

Take off your yoke and join Jesus in lightening the load.

What I love so much about this devotion is the visual it gives for the meaning of Yoke. I can honestly say I never gave much thought to the meaning of that one word but wow, what a powerful understanding. It transforms that setting of scripture in such a powerful way. I pray today you are encouraged to learn from Jesus as you carry the burden with him, For His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!

Today’s Reading is Romans 12:2