Ryan&Amber2013
Puritan Board Senior
I'm teaching nursing home residents this Thursday, and wanted to share my manuscript with you to see if you think this will be well received. If you have a few minutes please read it and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
We often feel like our burdens are too much for us: pain, loss, loneliness, sickness, anxiety, temptation. We can become so discouraged and lost in despair, that we really don't know if we can continue on in life. We don't know where to turn and we desperately want help and relief. Our burdens can make us feel so confused, undone, and broken.
We can turn to the church, to doctors, to friends and family, but ultimately they can't carry our burdens for us. We all learn that we must bear them ourselves, and though others can help, no one can truly carry them for us. Even our most dearly loved ones can do but very little to relieve us of many of our burdens. With the loss of a spouse, our closest friend can offer prayers and words of hope, but the pain and loss is still there. When one has been abandoned by their children, a friend can try to fill that void of loneliness and despair by giving sweet affection, but the burden of sorrow will not be fully lifted. We all must carry our own difficulties in this life.
It isn't even the way of God's divine love for us, to remove all our burdens off of our shoulders. As you know, throughout your life you have prayed for many hardships to be taken away, only to see that they still remain. Even God in His wisdom does not always remove us from our pains in this life.
Ultimately, the point is this: we cannot truly hope for our burdens in this life to disappear. For most of us they will continue on, taking various forms - health problems, depression, loneliness, relationship strife, and the list goes on.
So this means our true hope must not be deliverance in this life from our burdens, but for God to sustain us through them all, bringing us safely to glory as we pass from this life to the next.
In this verse, another translation of the word "burden" can be the word "gift". So the verse could read "Cast your gifts upon the Lord." This means what we call our burdens can really be viewed as gifts. What we thought of as terrible, overwhelming, and bad, can actually be viewed as a blessing which is for our good.
We know that God's love never fails. So that means all that is sent from His hand towards His children must come from love. This even means our difficulties.
What is tricky is that the world tells us comfort, ease, and pleasure, are what we need. But this way of life often is poisonous to us in the end. Desserts are wonderful to the taste, but they are not good for the body. But the things of God sometimes appear to be unattractive and undesirable, but those are the things which end up being blessings of love, which are ultimately for our good. Medicine is bitter and unattractive to us, but it is good for the body.
Let us learn to treasure these gifts and treat them like a special present from a friend. Surely we wouldn't despise a token of love given to us by our closest loved one.
God is too kind and wise to give us only easy things in this life. He makes the burden heavy that we may become strong and victorious. Winning a difficult race is better than never running it at all.
Through your burdens God grows you in to beauty of character, He uses them to show you a valuable truth and teach you a precious lesson, and He causes you to eagerly desire Him and heaven all the more. He knows what is best for you, even if it involves pain in this life. The wood cannot become a beautiful instrument until it is sawed, cut, chipped at, drilled with holes, and sanded. But once it is completed, it is a beautiful piece of wood which produces magnificent sounds. It is the same for us. God uses our burdens that appear to be destroying us, to actually make us beautiful in every way.
Through our burdens we must know that God is always near. He promised to never leave or forsake us. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and He ever lives right within us. As well, God gives us strength that we may never faint beneath our difficulties. He has promised to uphold us by His All-powerful hand. Also, Jesus shares our burdens with us. He is yoked to us the Bible teaches. This means that every burden we have, Christ has it upon His shoulders as well. Our God is a sympathizing God.
So how do we understand this verse? How do we cast our burdens or "gifts" upon the Lord? What we do is entrust our burdens to the Lord, leaving them to Him do do what He pleases, knowing that His will is always good and loving for us. We need not worry, God is in control. What we need is faith to believe the promises of God.
The promises here, are that God will sustain us through our burdens, and that He will never allow the righteous to be moved. You will not be crushed, you will not be overcome, and you will not be swept away by the raging sea. God will keep you, and these gifts of difficulty that are sent your way, will be used for your good. Have faith and believe this to be true. What you may think of as a curse, may truly be a blessing to your life.
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
We often feel like our burdens are too much for us: pain, loss, loneliness, sickness, anxiety, temptation. We can become so discouraged and lost in despair, that we really don't know if we can continue on in life. We don't know where to turn and we desperately want help and relief. Our burdens can make us feel so confused, undone, and broken.
We can turn to the church, to doctors, to friends and family, but ultimately they can't carry our burdens for us. We all learn that we must bear them ourselves, and though others can help, no one can truly carry them for us. Even our most dearly loved ones can do but very little to relieve us of many of our burdens. With the loss of a spouse, our closest friend can offer prayers and words of hope, but the pain and loss is still there. When one has been abandoned by their children, a friend can try to fill that void of loneliness and despair by giving sweet affection, but the burden of sorrow will not be fully lifted. We all must carry our own difficulties in this life.
It isn't even the way of God's divine love for us, to remove all our burdens off of our shoulders. As you know, throughout your life you have prayed for many hardships to be taken away, only to see that they still remain. Even God in His wisdom does not always remove us from our pains in this life.
Ultimately, the point is this: we cannot truly hope for our burdens in this life to disappear. For most of us they will continue on, taking various forms - health problems, depression, loneliness, relationship strife, and the list goes on.
So this means our true hope must not be deliverance in this life from our burdens, but for God to sustain us through them all, bringing us safely to glory as we pass from this life to the next.
In this verse, another translation of the word "burden" can be the word "gift". So the verse could read "Cast your gifts upon the Lord." This means what we call our burdens can really be viewed as gifts. What we thought of as terrible, overwhelming, and bad, can actually be viewed as a blessing which is for our good.
We know that God's love never fails. So that means all that is sent from His hand towards His children must come from love. This even means our difficulties.
What is tricky is that the world tells us comfort, ease, and pleasure, are what we need. But this way of life often is poisonous to us in the end. Desserts are wonderful to the taste, but they are not good for the body. But the things of God sometimes appear to be unattractive and undesirable, but those are the things which end up being blessings of love, which are ultimately for our good. Medicine is bitter and unattractive to us, but it is good for the body.
Let us learn to treasure these gifts and treat them like a special present from a friend. Surely we wouldn't despise a token of love given to us by our closest loved one.
God is too kind and wise to give us only easy things in this life. He makes the burden heavy that we may become strong and victorious. Winning a difficult race is better than never running it at all.
Through your burdens God grows you in to beauty of character, He uses them to show you a valuable truth and teach you a precious lesson, and He causes you to eagerly desire Him and heaven all the more. He knows what is best for you, even if it involves pain in this life. The wood cannot become a beautiful instrument until it is sawed, cut, chipped at, drilled with holes, and sanded. But once it is completed, it is a beautiful piece of wood which produces magnificent sounds. It is the same for us. God uses our burdens that appear to be destroying us, to actually make us beautiful in every way.
Through our burdens we must know that God is always near. He promised to never leave or forsake us. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, and He ever lives right within us. As well, God gives us strength that we may never faint beneath our difficulties. He has promised to uphold us by His All-powerful hand. Also, Jesus shares our burdens with us. He is yoked to us the Bible teaches. This means that every burden we have, Christ has it upon His shoulders as well. Our God is a sympathizing God.
So how do we understand this verse? How do we cast our burdens or "gifts" upon the Lord? What we do is entrust our burdens to the Lord, leaving them to Him do do what He pleases, knowing that His will is always good and loving for us. We need not worry, God is in control. What we need is faith to believe the promises of God.
The promises here, are that God will sustain us through our burdens, and that He will never allow the righteous to be moved. You will not be crushed, you will not be overcome, and you will not be swept away by the raging sea. God will keep you, and these gifts of difficulty that are sent your way, will be used for your good. Have faith and believe this to be true. What you may think of as a curse, may truly be a blessing to your life.
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