The Youthful Yoke

“It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” The aged patriarch had experienced tough times in his younger years, and knew the benefits it could bring in later life. If one would only submit to the suffering of their times, and silently endure, the fruit would be patience and great calm in later years.

It says of our Lord, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Is it any wonder the people of His day thought He may have been Jeremiah? Both men knew suffering and deep deprivation in their young lives. Taking the easy way, and the one of least resistance, makes for soft sons.

Parents need to learn not to overly protect their children during troubled times. For it is not easy to bend a neck stiffened with age or a heart hardened by custom. Such people are like “…a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.” Truly great people have the marks of the yoke upon their necks that they bore in their youth.

You can make life easy for your children; but it will be harder for them when they’re old.

(R.D.S)