We were not intended to carry burdens. The number of stress-related illnesses bear witness to that fact. And yet we continually want to hang on to them… why? Ultimately, I believe it comes down to a trust issue.
Psalms 55:22 exhorts us to:
Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
Father knows our propensity to not trust Him and so even in His exhortation reminding us to, He also reminds us that He has us covered. While we rely on Him, He will take care of us. Again in Matthew 11:29-30, we’re reminded to:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Despite His faithfulness and love. Despite His grandeur and power. We still think we can take better care of ourselves. We struggle with trusting the Lord to have our best interests in mind. We struggle with trusting Him to move in the best timing. We struggle with releasing “control” of our life and interests to Him. We think we can do a better job of our lives than Him.
What we don’t always realize is when we made Him Lord of our life, it means our life IS His – for good and bad – which can be very freeing if we truly release it to Him (i.e. give our burdens to Him). But too often we don’t actually make Him Lord of our life, we make ourself lord – in other words, we make ourself our god, we make our needs to understand, approve of, and control idols.
In doing so, we burden ourselves with stresses we were never meant to carry. He is the only one equipped to carry them and the only One who can bring beauty our of any situation if we will release it to Him.
In my post No Fear, I talk about how to have a paradigm shift when it comes to bad situations in our lives, how to view them from a godly perspective – and in doing so helping keep your heart rightly aligned under YHVH (the Lord). Uncomfortable and unpleasant circumstances in our lives don’t have to turn our hearts from the Father – and on the contrary, are a perfect time to draw near and gain new levels of intimacy.
I encourage you to consider what burdens you are carrying that you need to lay down at our Savior’s feet. If you’re struggling to do so, I encourage you to search your heart and seek understanding of where your fear is rooted that blocks you from obedience in this area. And then pray for Him to give you wisdom on how to break the fear. He desires to give you freedom from fear even more than you desire to be free from it.
Father, I ask that You would show us where we are struggling with releasing burdens and show us what the stumbling blocks are. Please give us healing and breakthrough that we might trust You even more! And please forgive us for doubting You in even the tiniest measure.
CANNOT DESCRIBE THE TIMELINESS OF THIS WORD!!! CANNOT!!!
Amen. Well said.