The Promise To Carry Our Burdens

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you.

Psalm 55:22

When I speak at women’s retreats, I often hear women say they desire to live closer to the Lord and feel his presence and love, but somehow they feel they are missing out. They describe feeling overwhelmed by all they have to juggle and, at times, disconnected from God—even though they attend church and go to Bible study.

Something Pastor John Piper says in his book Pierced by the Word sheds light on this issue. In examining several decades of church ministry, Piper found that the number one reason Christians don’t experience intimacy with Jesus Christ is that they don’t let him carry their burdens. Although we’ve laid down our burden of sin at the Cross, we self-sufficient people still try to carry our own load and do everything in our own strength. In the process we get burned out and crushed by the load.

Yet this verse tells us that if we will give our burdens to the Lord, sometimes even on a moment-by-moment basis, he will carry them for us. What a promise! What an invitation! We have a Savior who cares for us intimately and is thinking about us constantly. His power can make us able to cope with any situation. He who dwells within us by the Spirit is greater than the enemy who prowls about seeking to devour us. He will provide, protect, and shower grace in abundance as we give our burdens, the heaviness of our jobs or family situations, to the one who is eternally faithful and true. When we do, the Spirit will show us what is our part, what is God’s part, and what is others’ part so we don’t try to do everything. As we give the Lord our deepest burdens, we will know him more deeply and grow in thankfulness. Then we will find rest for our souls.

Thank you, dear Jesus, that you provide a way for us to walk in freedom from worry rather than be burdened by the cares of this world. Forgive my attempts to do everything myself instead of accepting your invitation to carry my load.

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

“What A Friend We Have In Jesus” By Joseph Scriven(1820–1886), Irish-Canadian hymn writer