Getting Dressed - Are You Wearing a Yoke or a Garland?

A month goes by quickly and there we were, meeting in my first floor living room on Thursday, October 7 once again.   I greeted everyone at the door wearing an artificial Hawaiian lei which became part of the lesson.  (I tried to rig up a yoke using a plank and paint cans to greet people with but that got too complicated, so I stuck with the lei.  It was prettier and lighter, which is really the point of the lesson, anyway!) 

I believe in knowing the definitions of the words we may read in the Bible.  Rather than reading for the sake of saying, "I read my Bible today,"  as if that is the essence of our relationship with the Lord, knowing what you read is more important, even if it's one sentence.  Reading is only part of the journey; Understanding what you read is essential to life application!  So I looked up the meanings of "yoke" and "garland."

A yoke is a device for joining together a pair of draft animals, especially oxen (just saw some crossing the street here in Brooklyn!!!), usually consisting of a crosspiece with two bow-shaped pieces, each enclosing the head of an animal (very important point).  It's also defined as an agency of oppression, subjection of servitude or slavery; to bring into subjection or servitude.  Another picture comes to mind of the stocks that criminals were kept in the colonial days in the public square. 

So far these definitions don't really hit us in a personal place, especially that we are not in colonial times nor are we in a rural setting but this word "yoke" is found many times in the Bible (over 60 in the NIV) and requires understanding as it applies to each of our lives.  Clearly, a yoke is bondage to something or someone.  The Bible speaks of a "yoke of slavery" that was on the children of Israel to the Eygptians (Exodus 6:6; Leviticus  26:13).  That seems easy enough to understand but what about when the yoke is not about servitude of one people  group over another?  The Lord also calls it a yoke of oppression when we point fingers and speak maliciously (Isaiah 58:8-10).  Now, that changes the way we must see ourselves.  We are not always the victim of circumstances but the very cause of the yoke we may be wearing!!

We, then, discussed some of the "yokes" in which we may be dealing right now in our lives.  At first, we talked about the pressures of family, relationships, finances and how we deal with them.  The worries and cares of this world have become yokes.  We are consumed with the very things that Jesus said to release into His trust (Matthew 6:25-34), food, clothing and the general daily provisions of life.  We have "yoked" ourselves to worry, fear and anxiety if these are our responses to our circumstances.  Relationally, we "yoke" ourselves to the wrong friends and "significant others," so that we defile marriage and it's original intent or go places and do things we know are not right but just can't seem to take a stand.  We "yoke" ourselves to greed and envy when we must have more things or that which someone else has.  We "yoke" ourselves to offense when we refuse to forgive someone who has hurt us. We "yoke" ourselves to unbelief when we do the opposite of what God's Word says we can and should do.  This discussion was very sobering when we turned the laser beam of the Word of God on ourselves!!! 

In continuing to understand how the literal yoke operates, I asked the group, "Who decides the direction when a yoke is in use?"  The obvious answer was the master driving the team, but not the ones wearing the yoke.  The yoke holds the head in a locked position and prevents an independent movement from the team.  Again, us city folk may not get the analogy but here it is:  Someone else is driving us when we are yoked to the things mentioned above, and it isn't the Lord!

We give up our freedom of choice when we are yoked in any circumstance.  And yet, wasn't it a choice that put the yoke upon us in the first place?  Mmmm.  Something to think about...

Next installment:  How do I take off this Yoke and put on the Garland?