Psalm 55:22 

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2008

GIVE YOUR BURDENS TO GOD!   IT CAN BE HARD TO DO.

“Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”  Psalm 55:22  (NKJV)

We all carry burdens; many of them are heavy.  We want to get rid of them, but often do not know what to do.  We go to others with our burdens and others bring theirs to us, but often we don’t know how to respond and neither do they.  Pastors have many people come to them with their burdens, but often fail in their response.  I know that in the early days of my ministry, I struggled when people came to me.  Some times I tried to help them but failed miserably.  Other times I used phrases such as “Cast your burden on the Lord” or “Take it to the Lord in prayer” or even Jesus said, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden” and I failed miserably.

The problem is that we don’t know how to cast, we don’t know what to do when we take it to God and we don’t know how to leave our burdens with the Lord.

This passage from Psalm 55 can be a big help if we know how to cast.  First of all we have to make sure we think in terms of “to cast” and not “cast away.”  A castaway is either something that is thrown out because it is unwanted, or becomes separated from where it belongs, such as the people in Gilligan's Island, who were castaways from where they had been with others.  Both of these types of castaways are either lost or forsaken or both.  When Psalm 55 uses the word “Cast” it is not in the sense of cast away.

The best way to understand how to cast your burdens is to imitate a person fishing.  Here there are different types of casting.  The type that is helpful here is when you cast out and allow the line to sink to the bottom and then LEAVE IT THERE.  During my College years, I would sometimes go to the Elkhorn or Papio Rivers (Better described sometimes as creeks).  I would cast my bait, let it sink to the bottom, and LEAVE IT THERE. While I would be holding on to the line, waiting for a bite, I would take one of the textbooks and read the material for the class the next day.

When I cast the line into the river, I had no idea where it was if a bobber was not attached.  I did not know if it landed in weeds, near a sunken log, if it was very deep, and most of all, if there were any fish near by.  What I did know is that there were fish in the river.  I still had control of the line, I had NOT cast it away.  Many times hours might go by and no bites on the line.  Often I would go home without a single fish.  But did I give up?  No, I kept casting the line and I kept going back with the faith that one day I would catch a fish. 

This is what “Cast your burden on the Lord” is all about. Here you use a prayer line to God.  You don’t know where it will land, but you do know that God is there.  This is called FAITH.  When fishing, the fish wants the bait. When casting burdens, God wants faith.  This faith will lead you to cast it out in prayer, time after time, day after day, with the assurance that God will receive it, just as the fish will take the bait.  While the fish will tug on your line and you might have to struggle to get the fish to shore, God will tug on your heart and you will sense the strong pull of the love of God as He leads you and helps you to be free of that burden or care.

The angler has a strong faith that when the hook and bait are cast into the water, a fish will take it sooner or later.  if we only had that same faith as we cast our burdens upon the Lord.  The angler takes great pride in telling others of the catch.  if only we would dare to take such pride in telling others of how God took our burden upon Himself when Jesus went to the Cross.

GIVE YOUR BURDEN TO GOD -- IT CAN BE HARD TO DO!  Just put them on a prayer line, cast them out and LEAVE IT THERE.

WE PRAY:  LORD GOD, HEAVENLY FATHER, I come to you with many burdens that are getting heavy to carry.  You have invited me to bring them to You.  Lord, I lay them before you.  Lord, I believe that you will lift these burdens from me and will lead me in the way to overcome them.

A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION

Don’t wait for tomorrow.  Take one burden to God today and tomorrow and each day after that.  Then, in faith, wait until you feel God’s tug on your heart as He begins to lead you to the release of your burden.  Pray about it daily,  Leave it there,  He will hear you and you will feel the tug that will call you to respond in Faith in Him and and Love for Him.