Burdens

Cast your burdens on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Ps. 55:22

I had this verse hit me at two different times, from two different sources on the same day a few days ago.  Definitely has me thinking.  It has helped put a lot of what I have been getting from the Lord recently into perspective.  It also generated several questions.

David tells us to “cast our burdens on the Lord” and he tells us why we should.  I think we would all agree David had his own share of burdens.  If God sustained David through his burdens, why wouldn’t He sustain us through ours as well?  That would make this a promise we can count on.

A burden is defined as that which is carried or that which is borne with difficulty.  We all have burdens, those things we acknowledge as burdens, but we also have those things in our lives we don’t call burdens.  We have a variety of other names we use.  Names like rejection, sin, addiction, illness, guilt, bad memories, and betrayal just to name a few.  Why do we avoid calling them burdens?  Are we trying to hide something?  Trying to avoid them?  Or, do we just not think of them as burdens?   When you look back at the definition it is easy to see that they all fit.

I find myself looking at the “things” in my life that cause me pain, that cause me difficulty, that make me doubt myself, and ask myself the same questions. I never really thought of some of them as burdens before.  With others I realize I am avoiding addressing an issue.  It will go away if I ignore it, right?  When I ask God to reveal burdens to me and I realize I am hiding things.  Hiding them from myself and, strange as it may seem, hiding them from God (or at least trying to).

Could it really be so simple?  Cast my burdens on Him.  Free myself from the pain and anguish. Live the life God wants me to live. 

So I cast my burdens on God, I pray about different burdens and seek solace in His promise.  And when I do actually let them go I feel freedom from the burden.  But I have come to realize something.  Although I gain freedom from these burdens, for some reason I take some of them back and throw them up on my shoulders again and then try to move forward in my journey. What am I doing? Why do I do this?  In the past I have berated myself for once again doing something I know I shouldn’t do but have found there is no benefit in this.  When I do this I am believing the lies of the enemy that I am not worthy, but this just isn’t true.  Now I am beginning to understand the importance of taking my thoughts captive.  When I dwell on the things of the past, it starts a downward spiral that eventually leads to another failure. But when I take the thought captive and seek out God, I am successful and don’t take the burden back.

Of course this leads us to the next question: Why do we insist on holding onto our burdens? They cause us pain.  They affect our relationships.  They prevent us from accepting who God made us to be. So, why do we hold on so tight?  When we won’t let them go we hinder God’s work in our lives.  God wants the best for us, why do we resist this?  Is it a control issue?  Are we so intent on controlling our lives that we are not willing to surrender even the things that cause us pain to the one who can help us most?

Take some time and think about your burdens.  Why not ‘cast them on the Lord’?

Jesus said “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt. 11:28) 

Claim your freedom, release your burdens to Him and take your life to another level.  Claim the rest that Jesus promises.  Live the life God wants you to live.