I wrote these reflections several years ago when I was recovering from burnout:

Lectio Divina—Isaiah 9: 2-4

2 The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.

There are so many lovely, strong words in this passage, Lord, but the one that strikes me is ‘shattered’—as in ‘shattered the yoke that burdens them’.

I think so much of my spiritual journey has been You shattering the yokes that burden me.  The yokes of perfectionism, of false guilt, of shame, of ‘doing enough’ and ‘being enough’, the yoke of comparison and control.

I love how the people living in darkness see a great light.  And Lord, You are my great Light. You have come into my darkness again and again and again throughout my life.  So in this season, as I rest and wait and write, I open my hands and let You shatter.

Shatter is a very strong, violent word.  I think it helps me view Your power as so much stronger than the lies of the enemy or the whispers in my mind.  You shatter.  I think of the verses in Matthew about Your yoke being easy and Your burden light. But here in these verses You are shattering a different yoke—one that is a burden—the bar across the Israelites’ shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

It seems like You have to get violent with us at times.  Like C.S. Lewis says—pain is Your megaphone. You have to shake us up, shake away all that is clinging to us, so that it will only be You.  You alone.  

So dear Lord, shatter again any false yoke so that I can take up Your easy yoke, the one that You share with me.  The one that will never be too heavy or overwhelming because it comes from You, and You carry it with me.  

I also read Colossians 3 today, another favorite passage, and especially the part about being thankful (v. 15).  And here in this passage in Isaiah 9, the people are thankful. They rejoice because they have seen a great light. They have seen You!  So today, may my heart burst with gratitude and thankfulness as I worship the ‘Shatterer of False Yokes’.

Then I read I Thessalonians, an epistle that usually uplifts me.  But as I read of Paul’s love for these believers and the way he lived among them, I felt failure—like I haven’t lived among the people we serve in the same way.  It’s not the first time that those verses have brought on guilt and hurt. 

Fortunately, You kept reminding me as I read to ‘stay in the present’ and shake off the yoke of the enemy’s lies. And as I did this, You reminded me of the wedding I just attended where many girls and women I’ve been able to encourage and serve in these past years actually came up to me and thanked me for the role I’ve played in their lives. That has happened through Your strength as I wear Your yoke.

Forgive me, Father, when I take on a yoke that is not mine. Please, Lord Jesus, move me past shame and guilt to freedom again today.  Just for today, staying in the present with You.

What yoke that you’re bearing do you need the Lord to shatter today?