Breaking Hard Ground Breaking Hard Yokes

Hos 10:10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

[bound together in a rut]

Hos 10:11 And Ephraim [ double fruit]is as an heifer [part grown cow]that is taught, [accustomed expert and skilful]and loveth to tread out the corn; [nice, and tender, and delicate, Ephraim is; he is as a heifer that is taught to tread out the corn][ mindless but enjoying it]but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim [ double fruit]to ride; Judah [praise] shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. [To remove or displace by stratagey; or to displace and take the place of; as, a rival supplants another in the affections of his mistress, or in the favor of his prince. To overthrow and to grow]

Hos 10:12 Sow [work plant] to yourselves in righteousness, [purity prosperity]reap[harvest] in mercy; [ kindness and mercy]break up[ freshly plough] your fallow ground:[inactive] for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Seek - daw-rash' to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by; specifically to worship: -, care for, X diligently,.

Eccl 2:17 the writer said he hated life because of labour and work

Isa 10:27 - And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

How to Avoid Frustration

Keep your shoulder to the wheel

Your hand to the helm

Your eye on the ball!

Your nose to the grindstone

Your ear to the ground

And you will not have time to

Put your foot in your mouth.

The cross is the great symbol of Christianity. On steeples atop churches, covers of hymnals, lids for communion ware and lapel pins on Sunday jackets, it stands an awesome reminder of all that Jesus suffered. Jesus spoke of the cross as a symbol of Christian dedication. "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mar_8:34).

But Jesus also used another symbol for Christian commitment."Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me...My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Mat_11:29-30). The yoke is a wooden harness tying two animals together to pull a load. Yokes are not usually painted on church buildings, or printed on the covers of Bibles. Maybe they should be. The yoke as much as the cross is a symbol of commitment to Jesus Christ.

"The cross and the yoke symbolize for us the two different aspects of commitment. The cross is an instrument of death; the yoke is an implement of toil. The cross is the symbol of sacrifice; the yoke is the symbol of service. The cross suggests blood; the yoke suggests sweat ...to be committed to Jesus Christ means that we are ready for either the yoke or the cross."

Let me suggest four lessons from the yoke:

SUBMISSION. "Take My yoke upon you." Coupled together to him, under obligation The Christian willingly submits to Jesus Christ as Lord and Master. "It is not in man that walks to direct his own steps." "Not my will but Thine be done."

OBEDIENCE: "And learn of me." The yoke suggests submission to a master who must be obeyed. Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

SERVICE: "My burden is light." Compared to the burden of our own, the yoke of the Lord is easy. But the very idea of a yoke is that of pulling a load, of work, of service. Christians are to be ministers-servants. "Work for the night is coming."

FELLOWSHIP: "All ye that labor." We are not alone in Christ, but serving alongside those of like precious faith. Paul spoke of his "loyal yokefellow." A yoke harnesses two animals together so as to pull a load neither one could pull alone. "Bear ye one another's burdens."

As we follow Christ, let us take up our yoke as well as our cross, "serving the Lord."

Isa 10:27 - And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

The yoke rubs the oxen and causes a wound that produces oil and as the oxen grows the oil weakens the wooden yoke and then it breaks

Jer 31:16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.