Burden Bearing # 1

Burden Bearing # 1

"Cast your burden upon the Lord - and He shall sustain you" (Psalm 55:22).

What a remarkable statement is that! Probably our very familiarity with it, has prevented any sense of wonderment over it. Try to conceive what would be its first effect upon a converted heathen! He has been brought to a saving knowledge of the living God and granted a measure of light on His glorious Being and Majesty. he has learned that by His mere fiat, the universe was called into existence; that so infinitely is He exalted above all creatures, that the nations of the earth are regarded by Him as but a drop in the bucket; that He sits enthroned on High, where myriads of creatures bow before Him in worship crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3).

And now he learns that this King of kings and Lord of lords invites him to "Cast your burden upon the Lord". Must not such a discovery be overwhelming to his mind and heart! And ought it not to have the same effect on us? - that He who "humbles himself to even behold the things that are in heaven" (Psalm 113:6) deigns to bid us lay upon HIM what we find too heavy to carry!

What a striking thing it is, that when a Christian has perceived the amazingness of such an invitation, or at least is acquainted with it - that he is so slow in profiting from it. We know not which is the more astonishing: that the Lord should be so condescending in granting us such a privilege - or that we should be so slow and reluctant to avail ourselves of it! We know not which is the more surprising: That we are given the opportunity of easing ourselves and laying on the Lord what is too heavy for us to carry; or our failure to embrace such an opportunity - and in consequence, continuing to stagger beneath a load which cripples us. It makes us think of a famished man being so foolishly proud as to refuse food when it is offered to him; or one in daylight closing and bandaging his eyes, and then complaining that he cannot see. Like Martha of old, many of the saints are "careful and troubled about many things" - when "but one thing is needful" (Luke 10:41, 42).

The one thing needful for ease of mind and peace of heart - is to "cast your burden upon the Lord", instead of attempting to carry it yourself. There is our blessed recourse! That is the grand remedy for anxiety. Why, that was the very thing we learned at the beginning, was it not? When convicted of our lost condition, when "heavy laden" with a sense of guilt and the wrath of God upon us, how did we obtain relief? Was it not by heeding that blessed Gospel invitation? We found rest of conscience and soul by coming to Christ just as we were, by acknowledging our wretchedness, by casting ourselves on His grace and mercy. And, my reader, we are to obtain relief of heart and mind from the cares of this life - in precisely the same way that we obtained relief of conscience at the beginning - by unbosoming ourselves to the Lord, by asking Him to undertake for us, by trusting Him to do so.

While it is true that an apprehension of the infinite greatness and absolute supremacy of God will fill us with wonderment at His amazing condescension in bidding us cast our burden upon Him - yet it needs to be pointed out that a sense of His dominion and all-mightiness will never move the soul to respond to this invitation. The contemplating of Jehovah upon His throne will awe us; but unless we also view Him in other relations and consider other aspects of the Divine character, our heart will never be melted before Him and drawn out to have free dealings with Him. There is a balance which needs observing here too. God is not only transcendent - but imminent. He not only resides in the highest Heaven - but "he be not far from everyone of us" (Acts 17:27). He not only dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto" (1 Tim. 6:16) - but He is also "a very present help in trouble" (Psalms 46:1); and for the believer, "a friend that sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24).

The last quoted passages need to have a real place in our hearts if we are to respond to the invitation of our opening text. They need to be frequently meditated upon and require faith to be mixed with them. To view the Lord only as in Heaven, produces a sense of remoteness in the soul. We should also cultivate a sense of His nearness to us. The Lord is constantly near us: "I will never leave you, nor ever forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5); which is not only a blessed fact - but one that needs to be acted on. Since He is constantly by your side, "Cast your burden upon the Lord." "Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil - for you are with me" (Psalm 23:4).

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)