MUSINGS

YOKEFELLOWS In New Zealand they tell you about the .days of the early pioneers when trains of oxen were used to haul heavy loads. When a young ox was to be trained for this work it would be yoked alongside an experienced beast and would learn to work with it day by day. When the working day was over, the two animals would still be tied together, though unyoked, and would feed and sleep together. Finally, when the young ox was fully trained, the pair would no longer be tied, but such a bond of affinity and affection would have been forced between them that they would be inseparable companions.

Does this not happily illustrate the scriptural idea of yokefellows? Paul addresses one in Philippians 4: 3 as his “true yokefellow” and goes on to speak of “my other fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life”. What an experience it would have been to be yoked with Paul; to see his steady, powerful steps, himself forgotten and Christ his one object, his great concern that Christ should be magnified in him, and the truth set forth in both his teaching and his life.

The yoke must involve that we work together, though the service of each is directly to the Lord. Paul’s longing for the Philippians was that they might “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings”, Philippians 1: 27. You can visualize that Philippian team, yoked together in love, in ardent committal, and in steady labour. May this ability affectionately to ‘labour together’ mark all who seek to serve the Lord—and that should include all of us.

Then we think of the invitation of Jesus in Matthew 11: 29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls”. What a privilege that the yoke in which He was as a Man here should, in that sense, rest upon our shoulders!—that we should be here with something of His devotion to the Father’s will, serving in His spirit, finding by experience that every burden is lightened by the consciousness of divine strength and comfort, and by the joy of labouring in our tiny measure in support of the Father’s interests.

FCM