GOLD in the CLOUDS : Are You Yoked with Him?

I've been meditating on this portion of Scripture the last few days.

A friend of mine who is putting together a devotional, wanted someone to write a short piece centered around these verses. I volunteered.

I started to think about how we are yoked with Jesus when we choose to walk with Him. This means we are committed to Him...it's a binding relationship. A yoke, from what I understand, is a wooden beam that joins two animals...often oxen...together. One pulls though....one bears the greater burden. This is symbolic of our yoke with Jesus. We work together with Him.

When we give Him our burdens, we are allowing Him to guide us through it. We learn from Jesus to be at rest and in that rest comes peace. It's a trust issue as well.

It made me think recently of the burden of my backpack on a mountain hike. Our destination was the fire tower on the summit of a mountain that stands at just under 3400 feet in elevation. It has a rather steep ascent for the last mile of the 2.8 mile hike up. The ascent wasn't the issue for me this time..my third time climbing the mountain in the last 15 years. Rather, it was the flat part of the trail. Why? because there was a very large tree, along with a shorter tree, lying directly across the trail. Both were old large pines. The trunks were so massive I couldn't get my leg up and over the larger one.

You can see me in the photo below trying to get up and over that 2nd tree. I ended up having to sit, swing my legs over, and then all was fine while I bushwhacked through waist high brush to get back on the trail about 800 yards away on the right. My new hiking member Evelyn had offered to take my pack. She would have lightened my load so to speak. I didn't take her up on the offer but I did appreciate knowing she had me covered in case I needed her help.

I had to slow way down, say a quick prayer that we wouldn't lose the trail, and trust that our instincts were correct. However, I was also trusting God to lead us! Knowing that 2 friends were behind me also helped.

and just like my friends and I were cheering each on......so too does the Lord cheer us on through our trials and burdens.

on the Vanderwhacker Mt trail

Jesus is always there to guide us, help us and lead us, isn't He? We just need to ask!

How do we learn to trust Jesus to take our burdens?

By being in His Presence daily. Talking with Him in prayer and meditation.

Reading the Scriptures.

Although we all have "yokes to bear"....our burdens are lifted when we give them over to the One who can carry them for us. We can rejoice in that assurance!

Just like my hiking friends and I rejoiced when we got to the top of that mountain fire tower!