PSALM 55:22 – Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
THEME OF THE DAY: IT DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN REMOVAL. One of the greatest comforts in the Christian life is obeying today’s scripture and resting in its promises; casting the burdens of life on the Lord and resting confident in His promises of power and protection as we do. However, we need to make sure we don’t misinterpret and misapply the command and promises. If we do, instead of joy and strength, we will encounter discouragement and failing under the crushing weight of our burdens. And how would we misinterpret and misapply the commands and promises? We anticipate, even expect, that in casting our burdens upon the Lord they will be removed from our lives by the Lord. Go back, read the verse again and identify what we have cast upon the Lord will be removed by the Lord. Don’t spend a lot of time searching. It isn’t there. There are some burdens in life that we give to the Lord, He will not remove. The prime example of this truth is in the life of the greatest Christian ever to live, the Apostle Paul.
Here is the context. The Apostle was taken to heaven. He saw things no one else experienced. He comes back to earth and to keep him from being full of pride and a sense of “special privilege”, God gave him a painful burden. It is called a “thorn in the flesh” – So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Do we think Paul “cast his burden” (thorn in the flesh) on the Lord? Yes, with the plea, “Take it away, Lord.” I wonder if he said, “Lord, I will serve You better if this was gone. Lord, look how much more I could do if You removed it.” Maybe some of us have said the same thing to the Lord, “Lord, if you change this difficult circumstance, situation or relationship, I will be more available and equipped to serve you.” And perhaps, like Paul, the Lord has said, “No. You will learn My grace is enough for you in all situations.”
When God doesn’t remove a burden, don’t think that means He isn’t carrying our burdens. He does but so do we. We walk hand-in-hand with the Lord in life. If He doesn’t remove our burdens, He will sustain us in burdens and will draw us closer to Him. And as we get closer to Him, like Paul, we will experience His strength and learn to rejoice in our weaknesses. In fact, we will even thank the Lord for not removing our burdens for the spiritual benefits we gain by Him not doing so! .
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see You are wise and good when the burdens in my life I pray to be removed are not.”
QUOTE: “If God leaves burdens in our lives that we want removed, He is teaching us about His sufficient grace.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim