Daily Lesson for October 9, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30:

28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This gentle word comes immediately after a very forceful and hard-edged word spoken against several unrepentant cities. It's as if whoever Jesus is speaking to in today's Lesson was witness to all the rejection from the cities and have become disillusioned. John the Baptist is in prison, the cities are absolutely determined to stay on their path of destruction, and Jesus' followers are on the verge of falling from disillusion to dismay.

It is here where Jesus borrows a lesson from his boyhood in the carpenters shop. He must have seen Joseph make many a yoke for many an animal, always considering their size and their shape, and usually making them for draught animal two by two. A good yoke could ease the burden of the load and take an animal a long, long way. A good yoke was easy on the shoulders, and when balanced right -- and especially when pulling with others -- could help the animal go a long, long ways. A good yoke can help the animal rest even while working.

It's so tempting now to fall into disillusionment and even dismay. But do not be dismayed. Come unto Jesus. Take his yoke. Rest your souls. Pull together.

If we try to do this alone it'll kill us. And the hardness of the ground will break our hearts. It'll be too much.

But Jesus isn't going to give us too much. It won't give us more than we can bear. And step by courageous step we'll keep ploughing, no matter how hard the ground is, because we're not trying to do this alone; but we're doing it with God and with one another.

In my study there's a wooden carving an old friend once gave me. It says: "It's a cinch by the inch; but it's hard by the yard."

Maybe we're just making it by inches; but we've made it his far. And we're going to keep on pulling . . .

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson will come from Luke chapter 11.