1 Year M’Cheyne Devotional

Readings: Genesis 16, Matthew 15, Nehemiah 5, Acts 15
The Yoke We Were Never Meant to Bear
There is a frantic energy in Genesis 16. God has promised Abram a son, but the calendar pages keep turning, and Sarai is not getting pregnant. The waiting feels unbearable. So, Sarai decides to "help God out." She proposes a plan that makes sense to the culture of her day but is devoid of faith: Abram will sleep with her servant, Hagar.
This is what happens when we try to secure God’s promises through human effort. We create "Ishmaels"—solutions born of the flesh that often lead to conflict and heartache. Sarai tried to take the weight of the promise onto her own shoulders, a burden she wasn't designed to carry.
We see this same crushing weight in Nehemiah 5. While the people are trying to build the wall (a good thing!), they are eating each other alive financially. The wealthy Jews are charging interest to their poor brothers, forcing them to sell their children into slavery just to survive. The burden of debt and oppression is destroying the community from the inside out.
The human heart is constantly tempted to add burdens—whether it is the burden of "making it happen" like Sarai, or the burden of financial and legalistic oppression like the nobles in Nehemiah.
This brings us to the pivotal moment in Acts 15. The early church faces a crisis: Must Gentiles become Jewish (be circumcised and keep the law) to be saved?
Peter stands up and delivers one of the most liberating statements in Scripture: "Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will" (Acts 15:10-11).
This is the Gospel in its purest form. Religion says, "Here is the yoke. Perform. Fix it. Help God out. Be circumcised. Wash your hands (as the Pharisees insisted in Matthew 15)."
But the Gospel says, "You cannot bear that yoke. Put it down."
In Matthew 15, Jesus condemns the Pharisees because they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. They loved the heavy yoke of tradition. But Jesus looks at the Canaanite woman—an outsider, a "dog" in the eyes of the religious elite—and grants her request simply because of her desperate faith.
Redeemer Family, we are a church planted on grace. We must be vigilant against the "Sarai tendency" to try to manufacture spiritual results in our own strength. We must reject the "Pharisee tendency" to judge others by external performance. The only yoke we carry is the one Jesus gives us, and His burden is light because He has already done the heavy lifting.
Prayer for the Day:
Father, forgive us for the times we try to be the Holy Spirit for our neighbors or our families. We confess that we often try to force Your hand because we are afraid of waiting. Thank You that salvation is not a yoke we have to drag, but a gift we get to receive. Like the council in Jerusalem, let us resolve to ‘not trouble’ those who are turning to God with extra hurdles, but simply point them to Jesus. Amen.
Questions for Reflection:
1. Genesis 16: Is there a promise of God you are tired of waiting for? In what ways are you tempted to "take matters into your own hands" rather than waiting on the Lord?
2. Acts 15: Peter warns against putting a "yoke" on others. Are there unwritten rules or cultural expectations you unconsciously place on people before you consider them "good Christians"?
3. Nehemiah 5: Nehemiah got angry because God's people were exploiting one another. How does our church community model generosity and freedom from debt/oppression in a way that contrasts with the culture around us in Nashville?