Lay Down Your Burden

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Scripture: Psalm 127:1-2 (ESV)

1           Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

                        Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

            2           It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

                        eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

 

Devotion:

            The psalm I have chosen for this devotional is one of my favorites. In these opening verses it depicts the ultimate foolishness of trying to do anything without the Lord being involved. Yet we tend to make a habit of picking up a new task and trying to do it all ourselves. Only when we face difficulties do we even consider asking our God for help. We spend sleepless nights wondering where we went wrong. This saying is certainly true: man proposes, and God disposes. We must learn to lean on God. Putting our trust in him does not guarantee a trouble-free life, but it does mean that we will be able to depend on God when things get tough. We will not have to do our tasks depending on our own strength alone.

            We learn how to depend on God in the school of prayer. We exercise our faith increasingly by relying on loving conversations with our heavenly Father to help us through. We can be less anxious and sleep better at night if we genuinely turn our fears and anxiety to the Lord. Being human means, we will pick our burdens back up. God will be willing to accept our anxious thoughts and troubled hearts as often as we give them to him. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 that he will bear our burdens and place on us his burden which is easy and light.

            Learning to trust God’s care for us is something that takes us years to master. (At least that is how long it is taking me,) We will not be perfect at it in this life. But we must keep on trying to leave our heavy burdens with the Lord. If we do, we can rely on God’s faithfulness to see us through our struggles in this life. Let us pray for God’s help.

Prayer:

            Holy God creator and sustainer of the universe. Teach us to lay our burdens before you. Help us to know that the one who shows the stars their proper course in the sky and directs the earth in her orbit can handle our burdens. Your strength God is sufficient for all our needs. Let us learn to lay all our needs before you and leave them with you. Give us rest from carrying heavy loads that we were not really meant to carry. In Jesus name we ask all this. Amen.

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