Burdens the Lord Carries

At a funeral, the pallbearers carry the heavy burden of the casket, but the family and friends have the greater burden of the loss. 

Watching a child mourn the loss of her mother, I contemplated that burden this week. It is too heavy.

It made me think of my own five year old, who fiercely insists, “I can do it myself.” One morning this week, I came down the stairs and found him holding an empty water jug and looking around at the flooded kitchen floor. It was too heavy a burden.

How often do I tell God, “I can do this myself” as I stumble and slip under the weight? Too often.

How often is He standing next to me, waiting for me to ask Him for help? Every time. 

Do you feel over-burdened? Burnt-out? Stretched thin? Perhaps, like me, you have taken the Lord’s burdens on yourself instead of letting them rest where they belong- in His hands.

He is Creator and Sustainer. Everytime I worry about life and death, sickness and health, as if I could control it, I put myself in the Creator/Sustainer shoes. I am trying to sustain life myself by picking up and carrying the burden of Creator when it isn’t mine to bear. 

He gives purpose and meaning. Whenever I try to suck significance from my relationships, my roles of wife, mom, daughter, or friend, or from my ministry endeavors, I am shaking my fist at God and telling Him that I will define my own purpose and meaning, thank-you-very-much.

He is the Beginning and the End. Have you ever worried about dying? Have you played the fertility games people play in trying to dictate when life happens and when it does not? Jesus said, “I am the beginning and the end.” He orders all of our lives. The burden of beginning it and ending it is on Him- not us.

Vengeance is His. I want to wrestle that burden away from Him anytime I am wronged or suffering injustice. The burden of vengeance belongs in His hands of perfect justice and perfect love.

Abraham said, “The Lord will provide.” If the burden of provision is on the shoulders of the Lord, then why do I insist on having it for myself? I will provide joy to my children. I will provide material things for my family. I will strive to provide everything we need. What a burden! And it is a useless burden when I consider all of the promises the Lord has made (and kept) about providing for us- physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Lord is our Judge. The Lord is our Law-giver. The Lord is our King. If I set myself up as judge, or make laws that aren’t in God’s law, or reign as Queen (at least in my own heart), I am again assuming burdens on myself that were never meant to be mine. Only the Lord is capable of filling these positions.

Finally, the Lord Jesus took on Himself the burden of Savior. He came to seek and to save the lost. He came to save sinners. I cannot even save myself. 

When the burdens are too heavy, we must seek other shoulders to carry them, and the Lord’s shoulders are the only ones that are sufficient. Won’t you ask Him for help today?