by Donnie O’Fallon
I have great sorry and continual grief in
my heart, (some versions translate this as heaviness in my heart). For I could
wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen
according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the
glory the covenants, the giving of the law, the services of God, and the
promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ
came, who is over all, the eternal blessed God. Amen. Romans 9:2-5 New King
James Version
The first verse above is the perfect definition of a burden
or a conviction. A burden is not
something you have, rather it’s something that has you! Paul had a great burden
for his countrymen, so much so that he said in verse three, “I could wish my self were accursed from Christ for their
sake”. In other word’s Paul
was saying, “Father if you would just
save them, you don’t even have to be concerned about me, just save them.”
Have you ever had that kind of heaviness of heart or burden? It weighs on you
and you can’t stop thinking about it. No matter what you do, you can’t escape
it. Maybe it’s giving a monetary gift to
someone or doing something for a neighbor / friend who’s down and out. God has
put this on your heart and it’s a heavy burden that will not leave you. Now what
do you do?
You Can Get Under the
Burden
One way to deal with a burden is to run with it. With God’s help you get under the burden, you
shoulder the burden, and you run with it. Maybe someone is carrying an over
whelming load and you can get under that load with them and make their burden
lighter. Recently my wife felt that kind of heaviness for my sister in Arkansas
who has lung cancer and is taking chemo and radiation simultaneously. She came
to me saying, “while we can’t take any treatments for her we can send her some
money to help relieve the tremendous financial burden she’s under.” That burden
wouldn’t leave my wife until she did something about it. So we got under that
burden and ran with it. We did what we
could instead of feeling the weight of the burden and doing nothing.
You Faithfully Stay
Under the Burden
The New Testament talks about a burden being a heavy load in
Galatians 1-5. These verses describe two kinds of burdens. The first time it’s
used that a heavy load is weighing you down-being out of fellowship with God, a
crushing load. The second time it describes the load that you and I carry. It
literally means what we carry in our back pack for them. It may be intercessory
prayer or whatever else it may be. There are certain things that are just our
responsibility and will ultimately become our blessings.
You lay Some Burdens
Down
Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast all your Burdens on
the Lord, and He shall sustain you: He will never suffer the righteous to be
moved”. David wrote this when
he was a wise, Old king. We all have burdens, saints and sinners, old and
young. The Bible says we’re to cast all your cares upon Him and He will sustain
you. God knows that we cannot bear these
loads alone. That is why he gave us the
fellowship of other Christians as well as knowing that we can trust Him to help
when the load is too much.
Scripture to Claim:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
