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God’s A Team and You are on It, A Spiritual Intervention (17)

Come to me, all 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

We are on God’s “A” team.

We are on a team, and it’s an “A” team. We are teamed up with the best in the business. Today’s study is about this “yoke” a Christian wears which is indicative of our relationship with God: take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. The “yoke” is not a bad or demanding thing as one might think. This is descriptive language to illustrate our union with God and that we are together, work together, facilitate a spiritual dynamic together, and function as one unit with two entities; God and me.

This phrase, take my yoke upon you, is a picture analogy of our relationship with God.  I visualize the “yoke” we have with God as something like this: When we pull ahead of God with a burst of independence, He slows us down and moderates our activities. When we fall or drag behind and begin to fade or give up, God lifts us up and pulls or carries us along.

The yoke tethers God and us together in a good way, not as a forced behavior but as a loving friendship. The yoke is an interesting concept. Once yoked, we are unable to act independent of God.  God is in us and with us, and we cannot move independent of His presence. This binds us in a secure relationship with God that is so tight that it cannot be broken.

“Take my yoke upon you” is active. Active, again? We take it upon us. Why would we want to do this? Why do we do this? Why the word, yoke? A yoke suggests a joining, a binding together, an interdependence. We willing take His yoke upon us, but, I believe, God is the one who does the binding and is the lead person in the relationship, just like with a team of horses there is the dominate lead animal or even a lead dog on a dogsled team.

We cannot operate as mavericks in our spiritual life. The spiritual life is not designed to be an independent venture. It is just the opposite. The child of God spends their days in a position of yielding their will to God, the Father’s will. It is an essential part of the “binding” in our yoke with God. We are bound to our heavenly Father for the purpose of learning from Him and of Him.

Everywhere we go God is with us, teaching us, guiding us, helping us, and strengthening us. We are not alone in our endeavors, and it is God’s intention for us to achieve and succeed for He is here, yoked with us, to make sure the mission is accomplished. The success of the mission is dependent upon what we learn and absorb and the person we become in our Christ-likeness and Spirit-living.

God’s yoke is a gift to us. It keeps us on track and it helps us when we are weak or self-willed. Just watch a team of horses or cattle bound together with a harness apparatus or yoke, and you will see that they must work together or they will be at odds and little will be accomplished and much will be confused or ruined.

We desperately need God to temper us and guide us. God’s yoke is a kindness to us, not a burden inhibiting our progress. God is becoming our strength in all areas of our lives and we are learning to depend and trust in Him with our daily stuff and our scary stuff.

It is a relief to know that our spiritual success is not only up to us, for we are weak and easily distracted, instead it is up to God to help make a way for us through the wilderness of living this crazy life along with its struggles and joys, sorrows and blessings.

Soon we will know and enjoy the gift that we receive, what we learn deep in our souls, which the Giver gives to us from out of the “learning,” of a child with his Master Teacher.

Come in out of the shadows and start living anew.
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You are on the A team.

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>Next post:  Grow in your relationship with God: A Spiritual Intervention (18)

<previous post:  What we really need is rest: A Spiritual Intervention (16)

|<<first post:  A Spiritual Intervention

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©N. L. Brumbaugh

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What We Really Need is Rest, A Spiritual Intervention (16)

Come to me, all 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

Rest for the weary comes at last.

There is rest for the weary. God says,”and I will give you rest.” This gives us hope and peace in God.

Do you ever watch someone at rest, asleep, snoozing—a baby, a child, a mate? Your heart is moved as you watch them. You identify with your caring for that person. It is calm and peaceful. Real rest is that way. It is without concern or worry.

God wants us to find our rest in Him, not in circumstances, not in temporary fixes, not in things, not in money, not in fame, not in pursuits, and not in people. At times we get on a treadmill of busyness rather than finding our rest in Him. A person may never find their rest in Him, and they wonder what it means. Rest, in this context, seems to indicate a giving up, a laying down of self and wants. It is a form of peace.

But it can elude us. Some in the Christian community give up trying to find God. They find substitutes. Some get enmeshed in addictive alternatives as a way to remediate the inner emptiness rather than finding the solution in God. Again, they may not think this is possible and maybe they just don’t know how. It is elusive or not on the radar.

I assume this is common to experience. We find that discouragement or depression looks for something else to make us feel better. This is the path of least resistance, the natural, untreated path that self-medicates. And, spiritual rest is not found in friendships no matter how fulfilling and strong they may be. God is the giver of rest. He gives it to those who seek it. It is like a formula.

SPIRITUAL FORMULA: 

God + me + seeking God + spiritual growth + trust + trust + trust = spiritual rest

Spiritual rest is cultivated. It is also a result of the spirit’s peaceful state. True nurturing rest is found in God and God alone.

God is a God of tranquility and peace. He offers us soul-rest. It is a supernatural rest only found in God’s presence after His ministering grace has touched the inner places. This type of rest is in answer to the weariness of our souls, our burdens, and our hearts.

The more we seek God the more we will experience and access a state of true restfulness. It is a form of trust mixed with love that has found itself joined in a trusting relationship with its Father. It is contentment and godliness mixed together. Once you know this centered rest in the divine, life takes on a new dimension, a spiritually alive direction, a greater sense of being centered in harmony with God.

The “rest” is connected to its Source, and that source is God and His presence in you and with you. You have opened the door to your heart all the way, and He has flooded its interior, entered every room and taken up residence. You no longer withhold or erect barriers in the relationship. You have entered into full fellowship and friendship with God with each member of the God-Head, in caring connection with you and your soul.

This is God’s loving intention for us.

We need rest in our souls. A formula that works.
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So soothing is rest. We all need it. The rest God gives is a deeper satisfaction. It is an absence of labor and contains a presence of peace. One cultivates it into their life by keeping a close connection to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is the purpose of a “yoke”? The answer is coming in the next post.

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LINKS:

>Next post:  God’s A team, and you are on it:  A Spiritual Intervention (17)

<previous post:  The painful truth:  A Spiritual Intervention (15)

|<<first post:  A Spiritual Intervention

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©N. L. Brumbaugh