OUR
BURDEN-BEARER.
BY CARRIE F. JUDD
Cast thy burden
upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.-(Psa. lv:22.) Dear one in Christ,
what is your burden today? Whatever it may be there is a “Burden-Bearer” Who is
willing to bear it for you, if you will but take this heavenly load to the Lord
in prayer and find rest in Him. But you answer that you have prayed over it
again and again, but it seems only to grow the heavier. Yes, you may have laid
your sorrows for a moment at the foot of the Cross as you knelt weeping there,
but when you arose from your knees you took them up again and bore them away
with you; you did not leave them with
Jesus.
“We are invited
to “cast our burden upon the Lord.”
Notice how much is implied in that word “cast,” meaning of which is “to throw
or fling.” We are here to throw the
whole weight of our burdened life upon those mighty shoulders which uphold the
government of worlds. We are to lose all thought and care about it, knowing
that our God has undertaken for us, and that His sustaining grace will cause us
to “mount up with wings as eagles,” to “run and not be weary,” and to “walk and
not faint.”
If we undertake to
carry our own burdens we shall surely sink beneath their weight. At a time when
David’s spirit was overwhelmed within him at the thought of his sins, he
exclaimed, “Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” –(Psa. xxxviii. 4.)
They were far “too heavy” for him to bear, and so we find him casting them upon
the One Who alone had the power to bear their crushing weight. How many of us
can realize the depths of anguish in Job’s bitter words, as bewailing his
transgressions he says, “I am a burden to
myself” – (Job vii:20.) Our greatest burden is ourself; that proud,
foolish, rebellions self, which we
get so tired of trying to subdue. Why will we not realize at once that “we have
no power of ourselves to help ourselves,” and once for all cast this burden
upon the Lord? Do you doubt his willingness to take you? Listen to His words of
love to His children of old, words of love to His children of old, “I bare you
on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.” -(Ex. xix:4.) Think of being
thus borne on the never-tiring wings of our Redeemer’s love, far above the
tumult and strict of the world, above the storm, above the clouds, up, up,,
still higher, till we rest at last in God Himself.
“I brought you unto Myself,” He says. O, where else
would we wish to be borne than away from ourself to God. How we strive and
struggle to get closer to Him; how we stretch out our weak, imploring hands to
reach Him, when, if we would only cast our souls upon Him in utter abandonment
of will, He would bare us upward by His Spirit of love. Again and again He
tells us this, but we fear to trust Him, and so we painfully toil along under
the weary load which prevents our spiritual life from arising to the heights of
glory awaiting it.
Hear the words
of infinite love in which the Lord makes known to us His tender care over His “little
ones”: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth
them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him.-(Deut. Xxxii:11,12.)
You have known
something, dear burdened one, of the mighty stirring
within your heart by the Spirit of God; you have felt the fluttering of these faithful wings which brooded over you by night
and by day; you have seen them spread
abroad in His loving providences, encouraging you to make them your
resting-place, but have you let them take
you and bear you upward to the
heights of Divine love. O, dare to cast yourself upon them! They will not fail;
they will not tire: they will bring you out at last “into a wealthy place.”
How can we know “the
peace which passeth all understanding,” unless we “cast our burden upon the
Lord”? But, perhaps, some tired, longing soul will answer, “How gladly I would
cast myself upon Him, but I have not cast myself upon Him, but I have not the power to do it.” Would our loving Father
invite us to do anything why was impossible? Surely not. We have only to say, “I
do cast my burden upon Thee, and now
since Thou hast taken it I am free from all care and sorrow concerning it.” He
has promised that He will never leave
us, nor forsake us, and has said, “Even to your old age I am He; and even hoar
hairs will I carry you.”-(Isa. xlvi:4.) What words could be more assuring? That
we in our frailty and unbelief may suffer, with no fear of being left alone,
this special promise is made that we shall be carried by our loving Saviour
even to the last of our earthly pilgrimage. And then that our hearts may be doubly
strengthened, we are assured yet again that “This God is our God for ever and
ever; He will be our Guide even unto death.”
We read in His
Word that He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him, and if
we have no the peace which floweth like a river, and which is undisturbed by
the trials and troubles of life, we may be sure that it is because our minds
are not stayed on Him Who is our
peace. Our “looking unto Jesus” must be steadfast and constant, in utter
dependence upon Him each moment, for we can never have any spiritual life
except by Him, and in Him.
How many times
some weary soul, discouraged with the heavy burden which it has been trying to
carry alone, feels an intense longing to lay all care and responsibility upon some
other shoulders, and rest as helpless and unconcerned as the little infant
which knows nothing of life’s cares. And, wonderful as it may seem to those who
do not yet know this truth for themselves, this is just what we may do, and must do, “casting all our care upon Him, because, He careth for us.” He surely cares as much His children
now as in the days of old when it was said of Israel, “The Lord thy God bare
thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came
into this place.” –(Deut. i:31.)
It would be even
sweet to have Him lead us, but how
much more to have Him bear us; to
carry the whole responsibility of our weak, faltering lives, that we may not
wander from Him. His compassion and tenderness have surely not waxed cold since
His care over Israel, when we read that, “In His love and in His pity He
redeemed them, and He bare them and carried them all the days of old.”-(Isa.
lxiii:9.)
Can we not count
upon His love and His pity now, and cast ourselves upon them in assurance that
they will not, cannot fail? Let us
take no anxious though, either for our spiritual or physical life, for our
Heavenly Father “knoweth all our need,” and will unfailingly supply it “according
to His richness in Christ Jesus.” And let us cast all our burdens upon Him that
we may know the sustaining grace which shall carry triumphantly above the
presence of every care, and the wight of every sorrow.
