Have you ever been walking with someone and gotten ahead of him or her? If you are walking too fast they might say, “Can you wait, please?” Have you ever walked with someone and fallen behind? They may turn and look at you as if to say, “Come on, you walk too slow.” You see, there are only three ways to walk with someone else; ahead, behind, or beside.
There is a beautiful invitation for a walk (lifestyle) in Matthew 11:28-30 “ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (KJV)
As a child growing up on a farm in the 1950’s, I saw many things on the farm that have actually helped me tremendously in understanding God’s Word. Times were changing. We had machinery to do some work, but I also remember horses and mules as work animals. I remember a day when my Uncle Andrew was working fairly close to the house. He was plowing some land with two mules yoked together. In one hand he held the reins and in his other hand he had a stick with a leather strap on the end. I watched as he moved along plowing. Every once in a while he would either prod one of the mules with the stick or just lightly drop that leather strap on the mule’s back. It seemed to me he was having trouble with one of the mules. I took him a cold drink of water and asked him what the problem was. I asked, “Uncle Andrew, why do you keep picking on that mule?” He laughed so hard I thought he would spill the glass of water. He explained that the ground was hard. The two mules were yoked together and if left alone they would walk evenly side by side, both using all their strength at the same time. He would prod the one mule to get him just a little bit ahead of the other mule. In getting slightly ahead, that one mule would start to bury the plow in the hard ground first, with his own strength. The second mule was just a few seconds behind, but he did not have to use so much strength because the ground would already be broken by the time he took a step.
I had completely forgotten that conversation until a couple of years ago when I found myself reading Matthew 11. Friend, I do not know what you may be going through in your life today. One thing is certain, though. The Lord Jesus is standing by ready to walk with you through that battle. He has given all of us the same invitation. “Yoke up with me!” If your walk with the Lord is burdensome, perhaps you have gotten ahead of the Lord. Perhaps you have allowed yourself to fall too far behind. Make a decision today to keep walking with the Lord, not ahead of Him and not too far behind.
People are watching your walk with Lord. They see and hear of His blessings in your life, and they come to a knowledge of Him because of your blessed life. Better yet, they can meet and walk with that same Jesus. Go ahead and invite someone today to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior and begin their own victorious walk. You will be so tremendously blessed!
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