Getting Tired Toting that Barge, Pulling that Load?

1Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

God is such a contradiction. He just doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't do things the way we do.

For instance, in our world, it's our experience that kings, queens, presidents and other people of influence surround themselves with servants, assistants and others who'll help them with the load of responsibilities they have. These people help shoulder the burden of the person in authority. They may offer advice or counsel; they may carry out certain tasks; they may just be dumped on, yelled at or "scapegoated" when things don't go right. And in some kingdoms and reigns, they're used like "beasts of burden" to actually carry the royal person.

But, in God's world, the kingdom of heaven, which has been opened to us here on earth through the person of Jesus Christ, God calls Himself our burden- bearer. Say what? That's backward. Instead of us bearing the burdens of the One who has all authority, Jesus, the One the Bible calls the King of kings and Lord of lords, came to bear our burdens.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest," He said. "Cast your cares upon me, for I care for you," He said.

What kind of a God says that? What kind of a God comes to serve rather than be served? The God of the Bible, the God who created us, the God who wants us to be freed from the mess we've gotten ourselves into by wrong choices -- the slavery of sin -- and the downward spiral of life, the hopelessness of impossible situations and the despair of human suffering and pain which are the results of sin.

When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, so did difficult circumstances -- sin's consequences. Things began to get very tough for the people God created to have fellowship with Him. So God decided He'd provide the solution. He sent His son Jesus ... all God and all man. He was the only one who could help us. Born all man, He was never less than all God. As man, He suffered in every way man can suffer and yet, because He was all God, was without sin. Though He was born with the sin nature we all acquired from Adam, He didn't succumb to it. He lived life in perfect obedience to God and was sinless. He shouldered the whole burden perfectly.

On the cross, God dumped the whole burden of our sin on Him -- all the evil and sin there ever was or ever would be --nd then turned away in His holiness, leaving Jesus to cry out in His pain, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus bore up under that weight and the punishment for it and was not defeated. After three days in the grave, during which time He descended into hell, the Spirit of God raised Him from the dead. Neither the devil nor death could hold onto Him.

In Him, the Bible says, all creation is held together. Jesus knows all things, is everywhere at once, sees all things and is all powerful. He alone can shoulder the heavy burden we live under in this world, because He alone has victory over it and victory over our sin nature ... a victory won by His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. He means it when it tells you He wants to lighten your load.

It doesn't matter if you're struggling with a conflict at work or at home, if you're having health problems or hurting over a loved one who is, if you're facing death or the loss of someone in your life, if you're out of work or out of money, if you're feeling misunderstood, abandoned, abused, alone or scared. It doesn't matter if you're stressed out or burned out, overloaded or overwhelmed.

He has experience bearing burdens ... and yours aren't too big for His shoulders. He loves you. Put your faith in Him today.

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