Leave Your Burdens Behind
The weight of the world seems to be on your shoulders. The pressure of everyday life presses down like a vise, squeezing all it can out of you. Each step you take feels like a struggle just to stay upright.
What is weighing you down today? Illness, disease and health? Loneliness, depression and avoidance? Family, friends and loved ones? Evil in one of its many forms attacks with determination and urgency, leaving us burdened and hindered.
Imagine for a moment that each one of those burdens is a backpack, and you shoulder each one afresh every day. Soon you're bowed under the weight of multiple worries and concerns, each backpack pulling you further down.
Oh sure, you go to the altar from time to time and set those burdens down. You spend time with the Lord and tell Him that you'll hand over every single one of those backpacks and walk away. But when you rise from your knees, you automatically pick them all back up and shoulder them again. And this routine gets repeated again and again, as you never allow yourself to come out from underneath your heavy load.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
The word cast means to throw, to fling, to hurl far away. Too many times we just set our burdens down somewhere close by, and then they're handy to pick up again shortly. God used Peter to give the picture of casting our cares. We aren't to just keep them handy, but fling them as far away as we can and let the Lord have control.
Give up control of our burdens? That's a frightening thought, but it's one way that a Christian woman grows in victory. Instead of putting our arms through those backpack straps again and again, we allow God to take them for us. We hurl them away, watching as the fall at the foot of the cross. We don't get the luxury of chasing after them anymore, they're too far away and too heavy to struggle with.
Whatever you are burdened underneath, God desires you to cast it on Him. His servants can't serve when they're bent by a heavy load. And there's nothing in any of those backpacks that we can handle ourselves, anyway! Casting them away lightens our load, lightens our countenance and lightens our hearts.
Cast them away and you'll rekindle the flame in your soul.
What is weighing you down today? Illness, disease and health? Loneliness, depression and avoidance? Family, friends and loved ones? Evil in one of its many forms attacks with determination and urgency, leaving us burdened and hindered.
Imagine for a moment that each one of those burdens is a backpack, and you shoulder each one afresh every day. Soon you're bowed under the weight of multiple worries and concerns, each backpack pulling you further down.
Oh sure, you go to the altar from time to time and set those burdens down. You spend time with the Lord and tell Him that you'll hand over every single one of those backpacks and walk away. But when you rise from your knees, you automatically pick them all back up and shoulder them again. And this routine gets repeated again and again, as you never allow yourself to come out from underneath your heavy load.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
The word cast means to throw, to fling, to hurl far away. Too many times we just set our burdens down somewhere close by, and then they're handy to pick up again shortly. God used Peter to give the picture of casting our cares. We aren't to just keep them handy, but fling them as far away as we can and let the Lord have control.
Give up control of our burdens? That's a frightening thought, but it's one way that a Christian woman grows in victory. Instead of putting our arms through those backpack straps again and again, we allow God to take them for us. We hurl them away, watching as the fall at the foot of the cross. We don't get the luxury of chasing after them anymore, they're too far away and too heavy to struggle with.
Whatever you are burdened underneath, God desires you to cast it on Him. His servants can't serve when they're bent by a heavy load. And there's nothing in any of those backpacks that we can handle ourselves, anyway! Casting them away lightens our load, lightens our countenance and lightens our hearts.
Cast them away and you'll rekindle the flame in your soul.
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