Dear Anyone Who Reads This, it’s not God’s fault.
God knows I carry burdens. Every day. Some days they’re not quite so backbreaking. Other days? Well—
I gotta be honest. After all, I am teaming up with God, here. Most of the time most of the things weighing me down aren’t mine to carry.
Yeah. God keeps telling me that and I keep not listening and picking them up every morning, anyway. We’ve got real nice rhythm going on, here.
No. I don’t think that’s the desired result He’s looking for.
God knows, though, that I’m often worn out and down by the heavy load.
STILL. He bends down to my foolishness and assumptions, takes the weight off my shoulders and back, and goes along beside me–guiding, protecting, teaching–ALL the while packing the bulk of my self-absorbed and -important worries, heartweights and concerns.
Well, yeah. There is a difference. All that stuff that seriously bends me low, making me sound like a V8 missing 5? God’s got it all hanging off His pinkie.
Okay, there’s just something not right about that. But, um, if you’d take it up with Him, that’d be great.
Psalm 68:19. “Carries our burdens…” (New Intl. Version). “Carries our heavy loads every day…” (VOICE). “…carries US in his arms . . .” (New Living Translation).
David was a vet. He knew what it was to routinely carry weapons, ammo, supplies, food and water around. He was a career soldier. He also understood his own tendency – okay, all of our tendency – to pick up all sorts of concerns and problems and issues that
- we can’t do a blessed thing about, one way or the other
- aren’t any of our concern, anyway
At some point, Dave figured it out.
God doesn’t automatically take all that weighty junk that’s weighing your heart, mind and spirit down off you unless you ask.
And . . .
God doesn’t automatically give all that weighty junk back unless we go looking for it. Remember? God’s a gentleman. Yet if you insist, He’ll gently lay the who mess on your back.
Something odd about that, though. The load He gives you back isn’t as heavy and burdensome as the one He took off it that morning. Remember I mentioned Him teaching as the two of you walked along through your day while He was, yeah, making you feel a little silly by letting all that just swing on the end of His pinky?
What do you think He was teaching?
God’s so cool!
No. I didn’t know He had a pinky finger, either. Confession: I tried holding something on the end of my pinky finger. Hurt like a dog!
I got lots of respect for God’s pinky finger.
Maybe the point is for me to stop picking up that same grueling, sweaty, heavy, burdensome load of emotional, spiritual junk in the first place. Maybe God could use that break in our boring, monotonous ‘rhythm’ to teach me something new and fresh.
Whoa. A concept!
© D. Dean Boone, May 2015