What To Do With Burdens

A.W. Tozer 90x115by A.W. Tozer

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalm 55:22

"If a burden is laid on my back and another immediately takes it off and carries it himself,"

said Meister Eckhart,

"it can make no difference to me whether it is one or a hundred pounds."

In the Scriptures, there would seem to be three kinds of burdens recognized. First, the burden of loving help which we are admonished to give to others:

"Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

Secondly, the burden of moral responsibility which no one can shift to another:

"For each one should carry his own load" (Galatians 6:5).

Thirdly, the burden resulting from our fallen state, consisting of sin, fear, worry, disappointments, sorrows, remorse, bitter memories and self-accusations.

The first burden never harmed a soul. The second may even be a source of quiet comfort if our hearts are right. It is the third sort that ages and shrivels and kills. And there is no valid reason for our carrying it (or them, for there are many of this kind).
"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you" (Psalm 55:22).
That was what the good Eckhart had in mind when he suggested that no burden would be heavier than any other if the Lord carried it for us.

by A.W. Tozer

January 30th, 2013

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Octavius Winslow 90x115by Octavius Winslow

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The assaults of the adversary contribute not a little to the sense of weariness which often prostrates a child of God. To be set up as a mark for Satan; the enemy smiting where sensibility is the keenest; assailing where weakness is the greatest; taking advantage of every new position and circumstance, especially of a season of trial, of a weak, nervous temperament, or of a time of sickness—distorting God’s character, diverting the eye from Christ, and turning it in upon self—are among Satan’s devices for casting down the soul of a dear believer.

And then, there are the narrowness of the narrow way, the intricacies of the intricate way, the perils of the perilous way—all tending to jade and dispirit the soul. To walk in a path so narrow and yet so dangerous, that the white garment must needs be closely wrapped around; to occupy a post of duty so conspicuous, responsible, and difficult, as to fix every eye; some gazing with undue admiration, and others with keen and cold suspicion, ready to detect and to censure any slight irregularity—add not a little to the to toilsomeness of the way.

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