He Carries Our Burdens

I once met a woman who had lived her whole life as a Muslim. She was absolutely in awe of God because of Matthew 11. It’s all in the imagery of the yoke. If you can picture it, a yoke has positions for two animals—oxen, donkeys, horses, yaks, etc. If the animals are equally yoked, their burden is evenly distributed between them. If one of the animals is significantly larger than the other, it is unbalanced, resulting in the larger animal doing more of the work. The smaller animal receives less burden.

This woman had grown up seeing yoked cows. When she read Matthew 11, she looked up and declared, “God is the big cow!” Then she wept. Out of context, that statement could be confusing or possibly offensive, but it was spoken in such childlike wonder. She was beautifully overwhelmed by a God who cares about us so much that He chooses to carry our burdens. He offers us the gift of rest in Him.

The god of Islam never offers to take the load. He never claims to be humble or lowly in heart. His leadership is of an entirely different sort. His followers may ask him for things, but there are no assurances. What a difficult road that must be!

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the way that You take things that are weighing us down and trade them for your easy yoke. I pray for more Muslims to have a revelation of You as the humble, caring God who relieves the heavy-laden and grants rest. Let them catch a glimpse of the peace and relief that is available to those who believe. Lord, I pray that this would be a scripture that causes many to flock to you.