Cast Your Burden Upon the Lord
So much of what we experience in this life is so very heavy. So many of the burdens God calls us to carry are so tremendously weighty that they threaten to crush us to the dust. We bear the weight of our own sin and depravity, the shame of doing evil and the pain of failing to do good. We bear the weight of other people’s sin and depravity as they hurt and harm us, sometimes intentionally and sometimes purely inadvertently. We bear the weight of griefs and losses, of illnesses and sorrows, of unhealthy bodies and infirm minds, of broken relationships and shattered dreams. We all at times stagger under the weight of all we are made to bear upon our weak shoulders.
It is in such times that we turn to God for help, in such times that we call upon his precious promises to sustain and uplift us. Among the best of them is this: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). When we are heavily burdened we are to take one specific action: cast. We are to throw or hurl or toss our burdens upon the Lord. We are to bring them to his attention and to plead with him for his help. And so we close our eyes and pray or we lift our eyes and cry out for his help, his assistance, his deliverance.
What we want, no doubt, is for God to take them from us. We want him to lift the cross from our shoulders, to clear the sorrow from our hearts, to take the pain from our bodies, to relieve the torment from our minds, to chase the enemies from our lives. We want him to take that burden and remove it as far as east is from west, as far as heaven is from earth, as far as Everest is from the depths of the Mariana Trench. But we need to check our expectations, for this is not the promise he makes.
God’s promise is not that he will take the burden from us, but that he will sustain us as we bear it. God’s promise is not that he will free us from what ails us—not yet, at least—, but that he will enable us to carry it for as long as he deems fit. God’s promise is not that he will remove that burden but that he will support us so that we have no need to fear that we will stumble or fall. With God’s support, we have no need to fear that we will undermine the work he intends to do or to fail to remain faithful to the end.
For the fact is that it may be that God has purposes to accomplish in us that require us to bear our burden a little bit longer or that he has purposes to accomplish through us that require us to bear our burden a lot longer. Much of the work God carries out in this world is work that takes us through pain, through sorrows, through persecution, through all manner of deep and dark valleys.
It may be good and right in God’s eyes that the infertility lasts much longer than you desire, hope, and pray. It may be according to his purposes that prayers for the salvation of your spouse or child may seem to go unanswered for many more years or decades. It may be consistent with his wisdom that healing does not come, that the cloud does not lift, that relief is still many months away. It may be that you will need to bear these things until the end. But either way, you can be absolutely certain that as you bear, God will sustain. He means to not only sustain you, but to actually bless and better you through your tenacious, faithful obedience—to generate endurance through your suffering, and character through your endurance, and hope through your character, as he increasingly conforms you to the image of his Son (Romans 5:3–5).
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A La Carte (June 1)
May the Lord be with you and bless you as you begin a new day and a new month.
(Yesterday on the blog: To Surprise Us At the Last Day)
A Word to Gen Z Graduates
Aaron Menikoff has a message to Gen Z graduates that may encourage and challenge them in useful ways.
What Is Prudence?
“As a protective Father, God calls us to prudence, to think before we act. This may sound simple, but even prudence has its imposters. We may think we are being prudent while we are still playing the fool. How so?” Emily Van Dixhoorn explains.
Let’s Turn Pride Month into Prayer Month
Cindy Matson has a great idea here. She includes prayer prompts for every day of the month.
The Sound Witness of An Ordinary Life
“In Paul’s view here in Titus, the lifeblood of an effective Gospel witness is far more ordinary and unimpressive than we’d like to admit. It’s comprised of character and behavior we readily assume ourselves to have, but closer self-examination reveals why Paul instructs us to continually remind ourselves of these things.”
The Ordinary Means of Grace
For the Church’s “Theology in the Everyday” series of brief introductions to theological matters continues with an explanation of the ordinary means of grace. As is true for each entry, there’s also an explanation meant for children.
Expect God to Work in the Lives of People Around You
“I find the Lord’s activity in the lives of the Babylonian kings’ when the Israelites were in captivity fascinating. I cannot help but think that it was because of the presence of the people of God that the Lord worked miracles in the lives of these pagan monarchs.”
Flashback: 4 Guidelines for Dating Without Regrets
Couples should make their intentions known when they begin dating—but this is not the same as declaring an intention to get married! Rather, to be intentional is to be clear on what the initial expectations are.The way to conquer sin is not by working hard to change our deeds, but by trusting Jesus to change our desires. —David Platt
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What Does Your Faith Do For You?
It is good to be a man or woman of faith. It is good to be a man or woman who regularly attends church, who faithfully studies the Scriptures, who diligently puts sin to death and who joyfully comes alive to righteousness. This is all good and very good.
But every now and again it is important to ask something like this: What does your faith do for you? In those times when life is difficult, in those times when sorrows are many and answers are few, in those times when life is not going the way you had hoped, the way you had planned, the way you had dreamed, what does your faith do for you?
What does your faith do for your when wealth gives way to poverty and abundance gives way to lack? Do you forget all of the blessings you have enjoyed and neglect to give thanks for them? Do you grow disillusioned with God as if he is no longer worthy of your trust, your worship, and your adoration? Or do you profess, with confident humility “I can be content … for I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
What does your faith do for you when you face the fires of persecution, when colleagues or family members or government officials harass you, disparage you, mistreat you, because of your love for the Lord? Do you respond to anger with anger and to insults with insults? Or do you respond peaceably, praying for that person and entrusting yourself to the God who judges fairly and faithfully?
What does your faith do for you when you are called to pass through trials? Does your heart rise up in rebellion against God that he has taken what you loved or failed to give what you longed for? Do you dispute his plans as if your will should always triumph over his and impugn his motives as if he could never gain glory through anything but your happiness? Or do you bow before him and, even through tears, submit your heart by saying “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
What does your faith do for you when your hands are emptied, when your mind is troubled, when your heart is broken, when your faith is tested? What then? Surely the Christian faith is meant to be displayed not only in the good times but also in the hard. Surely the light of Christ should shine most brightly in the darkness, the joy of Christ be heard most prominently in the gloom.
It is a good thing to have studied deeply in doctrine and theology and a great thing to have an extensive knowledge of Scripture. There is tremendous benefit in knowing creeds and catechisms and in reading the classics of the Christian faith. These are disciplines every Christian should practice with diligence.
Yet these practices are meant to serve a greater purpose—the purpose of godly living. These practices are meant to equip us to master every circumstance, to meet each one with a stout heart and a deep submission, with the joy of salvation and the character of Christ. These practices are meant to not merely inform our minds, but to train our hearts, to bend our knees, to lift our hands in worship even in the most discouraging of circumstances and even in the most difficult of providences.
And so I ask you to ask yourself: What does your faith do for you? It is inevitable that trials will come. It is inevitable that difficulties will make their way into your life. But it is not inevitable that you will pass through them well, that you will endure them with your faith intact and your godly character on display.
Those who pass through them well are the ones who have trained their minds to know what God says about his character, his will, his glory. They are the ones who have trained their hearts to respond to this divine revelation with joy and submission. And they are the ones who have surrendered not just their minds and hearts but their very life and circumstances, who have prayed “not my will, but your will be done.” And then, when the trial comes, when the light fades, when the rain pours, they diligently enact what they have believed, enact what they have professed, enact what they know to be true. They prove to themselves, they prove to those around, they prove to the Lord himself that their faith is true and deep, that it upholds and sustains, that with it they can endure any trial and emerge sweeter and better, holier and more fully devoted to God. -
A La Carte (March 9)
The God of love and peace be with you today.
(Yesterday on the blog: Most To Jesus I Surrender (or Maybe Just Some))
Love Is
This is a sweet reflection on the nature of love.
Should Students Use AI for Writing Assignments?
“Can AI be used legitimately in the process of writing an academic assignment? My own institution has assembled a task force to determine what we consider legitimate and illegitimate use. In the meantime, here’s my own initial, not-yet-fully-processed take: Using AI for early research is OK. Using AI to write is wrong.” This makes sense to me.
Is Technology Causing Me to Disobey God in my Reading?
And speaking of technology: “Because reading requires serious meditation and intentional reflection, allowing technology to disrupt and distract me detracts from the purposes of reading. But it’s not just the impact on my general reading that has me concerned, but the potential influence it will have on my spiritual reading.”
What are some misconceptions of Calvinism? (Video)
This video addresses a few common misconceptions of Calvinism.
The Key To Understanding The Bible
“All through the Bible, the blessings of faith are for those who trust. The blessings of obedience are for those who obey. The generosity of God is for those who admit their need and come to him. The wisdom of God is for those who listen.”
Words Grow Wiser with Age
This is so good. “We should take care to position ourselves as experts on anything unless we truly are qualified for such a title. Instead, let’s be slow to speak, because wisdom is often found and best communicated with such careful treading, and our words will likely grow better with age.”
Flashback: Showing Mercy in A Feeding Frenzy
Far more people know their financial poverty than their spiritual poverty. Don’t we feel a deep compassion toward those who do not know Jesus and who don’t even know that they need him?The reason God commands us to love Him with all our heart is not because He is an egomaniac! It is because He knows that anything we love more than Him will betray us. —Matt Papa
