June 29, 2007
Sticky Burdens
READ: Psalm 32:1-7
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you. —Psalm 55:22
Have you ever had Super Glue or oil-based paint on your fingers? If so, you may have discovered that what seemed impossible to remove can be taken off with the right solution.
Life’s burdens can be that way. Someone I was mentoring sent me an e-mail and asked me to pray. It read: “I can’t shake this burden. It’s something I haven’t been able to give up to God. I’m very sad about it and know that I must hand it over to Him and be transformed. I truly need God’s strength to rid myself of it. I know that God’s forgiveness can clean me if I let it. I just must choose to let it.”
I responded, “The joy of the Christian life is knowing that God can handle anything we hand over to Him. . . . But at the same time, the great burden of the Christian life is that we—weak and helpless individuals that we are—hang on to stuff we know we need to give to God. We all know the feeling.”
Our sins and concerns, big and small, seem to stick to us like Super Glue. The solution? We need to take those burdens off our own hands and put them on God’s shoulders. The Bible tells us: “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (Ps. 55:22).
Why carry around those sticky burdens?
Those things that hurt, our trials and losses,
He cares for every soul that cries,
And wipes the tears from weeping eyes. —Brandt
