Carrying Our Yoke

[This is a write up of my sermon in my dream. The text is based on the acrostic poem of Lamentations]

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Lamentations 3:27

One must carry their own yoke. Our yoke, in other words, is the burden of life we carried from time to time. Each person has a yoke to carry; it comes in different forms. No one’s yoke is lighter than the other.

In the countryside where I spent my childhood days, we used different kinds of yoke for carrying farms produce and carrying water for our home. It helps us in easy balancing and we can use our whole body or shoulder to carry heavier things. Wooden yoke or those made from bamboo are used in different ways.

When we are young we are strong and cheery – we live young and we live free. The days of our youth is a time to enjoy the moment and be merry. Yet it is also a good time to prepare for what might happen in the future course of living.

A Yoke to Carry:

At some point in our journey of life, there is a yoke for us to carry. It will serve us well if we’re able to carry our yoke. However, it will be demeaning if we can’t take a stand to carry our yoke. Each of us have to carry our burden.

The prophet Jeremiah warns us about it in his lamentations. I do not understand it either when I first try to thrive into the meaning during my meditation when I first deeply wanted to have a close connection with God. It is not easy to understand why God allowed us to carry such a heavy yoke or burden, not by our choice. Or, in the least, before we’re not that deep into evil things.

If you keep reading the text you will find some words which are threatening yet we face them at a point in life. You may not face them yet but you will. So, it is better to get prepared. The words found in the successive verses of Lamentations 3 include disgrace, cast off, deprived of justice, afflicted, crushed, pursued, slain without pity, insults, ruin, and destruction.

However, in the end, our plea would be heard and we’d be redeemed!

Why Jeremiah Here?

Jeremiah’s life story and ministry have always touched me for some reason. His ministry spanned the time before and after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians.

Judah and Jerusalem fell during the reign of King Zedekiah (Jer. 39:1-10), the Temple of Solomon was destroyed in 586 BC (52:13), and thousands of citizens were deported during the Babylonian Exile. Jeremiah himself suffered persecution with imprisonment, disgrace, and eventual exile to Egypt (Jer. 43:7). Jeremiah is probably most noted for his prophecy on the 70 years of the Babylonian Captivity of the Jewish people (Jeremiah 25:11), recounted in Daniel 9:2.

He was among those deported during the exile and some sources even wrote he might have died during the exile. He is not someone who wrote or prophesied the burden of the people but whom himself had to endure the pain and burden along with the people of Israel. Here, it implies that he never abandoned the exiled people who suffered in the hands of other rulers.

There is a similarity between Jeremiah and Jesus: Both never abandoned the Jewish people and ultimately offered God’s comfort and hope. John 14 and Lamentations 3.

Someone to Carry our Yoke with:

Now that being said that we have a yoke or burden to carry, which might double triple at any time in our journey of life, we need someone to carry our yoke with. The evil one will always try to single out in those times so that we might be defeated or giving up on carrying our yoke easily.

Please remember we always have someone to carry our yoke. Sometimes it’s just a matter of us not telling it to him. He promised us the lighter yoke.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Why Prepare to Carry our Yoke:

This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 1 John 5:3 His commands must not be a burden for us to carry but it should be taken as a way of giving back to him because of what he has done for us. It should not be used as a trap to let other people fall before God.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:24-26

Joseph, the son of Jacob, has never found it burdensome to carry his yoke. It becomes his training for swallowing his, might be, bitterness towards his brothers.

Daniel and his friends are able to carry their yoke, in their youth, with the help of God. They take a stand against the norm of the world so that they might not get usurped by the evil force they are fighting for.
In the spiritual war fought during the time of Daniel, the Archangel Michael came to save them. They are not alone in carrying their yoke. Daniel 10

Encouraging Others on the way:

There is no end to carrying one’s yoke. One might be able to pull off our burden, standing straight in light of the Lord, but here’s more to it.

If someone can take a burden in encouraging and uplifting others in the journey of life, it is a burden with a promise of reward. However, one should not help or encourage others only for the sake of getting the reward. It is pure selfishness and it will procure a big loss to them.

We can help someone carrying the same burden as ours even though we are carrying ours. Hiding the tears for their sake and ours marching forward as we try to gain strength from the Lord.

Reward for Carrying the Yoke:

Our present weakness will become a treasure in a jar if we pressed hard on every side. There will be a time when we feel weak, admit it, but don’t give in. Try getting up again every time with the help of God.

Don’t jump off yet. Give it another try as you carry your burden. Get used to the yoke and tell it to Jesus. First, realize what you need and then tell it to Jesus. Our burden will turn into joy. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Refer John 16:33

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. . 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. And there, before him, we would be redeemed laying off our yoke forever!

It is better for us to be prepared carrying our yoke when we were young.
God bless you!

[Added Notes:]

{As I mentioned earlier, this is the sermon in my dream, intended for youths. When I woke up in the morning I wrote down all that I could recall as I did in the words in my dream. I’m glad the Lord speaks to me in my dream. For I know this sermon is directed at me. During my childhood days, I would preach among the trees in the hills while herding cattle. The flora and fauna are my audiences!}