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: DEALING WITH OUR BURDENS. We each have them. Burdens. Not every day is “happy in Jesus” as we face trials, difficulties, and challenges. There are times in life we are not unlike Christian in John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress carrying a heavy burden on his back. For Christian, it was his sin. For us, it is the heavy burdens of life; financial concerns, prodigal children, strained marriages, job stresses, raising a family in a godless society, and overwhelming circumstances just to name a few. Each of us may add to the list. Yet, the Lord, in another display of His amazing grace, gives us the way to deal with life’s burdens. It is found in today’s scripture and here are the three applications.
First, we are commanded to cast our burdens on the Lord – Cast your burden on the Lord. Notice what this is – a command, not an option. Yes, it is hard. Just like this one – Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:34). Back to burdens. We may not have a problem initially obeying the command to cast our burdens on the Lord. The problem is keeping them with Him. But always remember that the grace that saves us is also the grace that enables us to obey all commands.
Next, the place we are to cast our burdens is on the Lord. David doesn’t write “to the Lord” but “on the Lord.” When it comes to carrying life’s burdens, we are not capable of doing so. To keep them on our shoulders or hearts is overwhelming and we will break. Only the Lord can sustain us and carry life’s burdens – Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life (Psalm 54:4). We were not created to do life alone and independent of God. If we try, even as Christians, to carry life’s burdens alone, we will suffer spiritually, emotionally, even physically. Our lives will be paralyzed and under the control of anxiety, stress, worry, fear, and negative ‘what if’ circumstances. We will be Christian in name only living more like an unbeliever and not a follower of Christ.
The third application in dealing with our burdens properly is to cling to the promise of the Lord taking them, keeping them, and sustaining us as we daily do so – And He will sustain you. This demands faith, not feelings. It demands a clinging to His Word, not our emotions. It demands a looking to Jesus, not our circumstances. Is it hard? No. It is impossible and that again is why it is amazing grace. There is a great promise in the opening verse of the forty-sixth Psalm to cling to when casting our burdens on the Lord and leaving them with Him – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). He will help us not only to cast our burdens on Him, but to keep them with Him.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the giving of Your Son not only to carry the burden of my sin, but the burdens in life.”
QUOTE: “When we cast our burdens on the Lord, leave them. This isn’t fishing when we reel back in what we cast out.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim