For Week #11 of Come, Follow Me, the New Testament readings included the teaching of Jesus from Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

So I looked up  how the word “yoke” translates into Hebrew. Here it is:

עול

These letters are, from right to left, “ayin,” “yod” and “lamed.” In Hebrew the word is “ol.”

The ancient Hebrew pictograms for these Hebrew letters stand for, from right to left:

“eyes” “arm” and “shepherd’s staff”

The meanings of these symbols are: vision, work/man’s intelligence, and being led by a leader/staff.

So the composite meaning of the word is “Seeing the work/burden as a shepherd’s staff.”

In other words, sometimes what we feel as a yoke, a burden, or a restraint is the very thing that leads us to greater joy, happiness, and life. Truly that is the role of Christ for us. Here are three videos that teach about that:

I hope you will see that your burdens, your yokes, are to help you have greater joy. They are evidence of God’s love for you.