“Lei” Your Burdens Down

Ps 55:22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be
moved.

Wouldn’t you rather have the Lord sustaining you than you yourself? We’d all answer “yes” to that
question, yet often in our day-to-day living, we do not do what is necessary, according to this verse, for
Him to be our sustainer. The verse tells us we must “cast [our] burden upon the LORD.”

I’d also like to point out that the verse says “he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Is. 64:6
says “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” so we must have Christ’s righteousness appropriated
to us through salvation in order to be considered righteous in God’s eyes. If you’ve not trusted in Jesus
as your Savior, the first burden you need to lay on the Lord is your sin burden. The Bible says if we
believe on Jesus Christ, we become a child of God and have all the benefits of that relationship.

Many times in the Bible the Lord exhorts us to not have anxious care over things. Some examples
would be the last part of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus Himself tells us to take no thought for the
morrow—reminding us of how He cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Birds of the
air are not pets kept in cages, cared for by a human. Lilies of the field are not in someone’s garden
where they would be fertilized and watered as necessary. Yet “your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things.”

Paul exhorts us in Phil 4:6 to “be careful (full of care) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

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

These are just a few examples of how the Lord implores us to avoid anxious care. Have you
considered the fruit of anxious care?

1. It causes us to doubt God’s lovingkindness for us, which causes our love for Him to grow cold.
2. We begin to mistrust or distrust Him, which grieves the Holy Spirit and causes our prayers to
be hindered.
3. It injures our example to others.
4. We become selfish, thinking only of our problem and not of how we might help others around
us.
5. It causes us to set up an idol in our heart—whatever or whomever else we are looking to to
relieve our burden (could be our own self, our husband, a parent, a pastor, etc).

C.H. Spurgeon said, “…the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than
God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do
for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labor to take upon ourselves
our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to His
plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all
sinful. Yet more than this, anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly leave his
affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong
means to help himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and resorting instead
to human wisdom.”

However, if we will have simple faith in His promises and cast each burden as it comes upon Him,
it will keep us close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation. Have you ever considered
that every burden that you have had or currently have came to you from Him, so that you could
cast it back onto Him? And isn’t He a wonderful God to give us burdens hand-picked for each one
of us from His loving heart so that we each do have something to cast back onto Him so He can
show His love, care, provision and greatness to us in a way that we can understand?

I’d like to share a personal example. Many of you know that I have a great fear of flying. I used to
think it was because I got airsick, but that is not the problem now. I think it’s a fear of not being
able to control what might happen on a flight. It was so bad several years ago that I was at the
point of calling my mother to tell her I would not be coming to NC after all—and this was after my
ticket had been purchased! In God’s goodness, He has worked with me over the years so that I am
almost completely free of this anxiety. Notice I said He has worked with me. Yes, I’ve asked Him
to make me trust Him, but that is not how He works. He doesn’t use me as a puppet on a string!

A couple of years ago, I was almost completely incapacitated for a whole week before I was
scheduled to fly to NC. I sat in a rocker all day with my Bible on my lap. I read and reread
passages of Scripture that told of God’s care for me and prayed and prayed for God’s peace in my
heart. But I received no relief from Him. I did make it through the flight, but wondered for some
time afterward why He seemingly did not listen to me and answer my prayers for peace.

I continued to talk to Him about it, and one day He opened my understanding through Is 26:3
—“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in
thee.” The best way for me to explain it is by using an example with which we mothers will be
familiar.

How many of you moms have ever had a toddler who was having a bad day? They’ve been fed,
they’re not sick, and they are right there with you—the one person in the entire world who loves
and cares for them. I mean they are really there with you—their arms are wrapped around your
legs and they are whining and crying and just will not be comforted. Ever have that happen to
you?

I realized I was being just like a whiny toddler—although I thought my mind was “stayed on
[Him]” because I was reading verses and praying, I continued to fret about the flight. I was at the
throne of grace, before my great High Priest and loving Father, but was not comforted because my
mind was not fixed on Him, nor was I really trusting Him.

Contrast the whiny toddler with this example: When we were on deputation, we were in the car
days at a time. Our kids sat in the back seat—drawing, coloring, listening to Patch the Pirate and
most of the time, they were happy as larks. Every once in a while, they would ask, “Daddy, where
are we going?” Or “Daddy, are we almost there?” Daddy would answer and they would be
content—they had complete confidence that Daddy was in control and our family would arrive at
its destination.

Before I flew this time, I was more like my kids were while on deputation! Every time that painful
fear came into my heart, I immediately cast it on the Lord and made an effort to really trust His
love and care for me. I can’t tell you the difference that made! I have not completely overcome
that fear, but I continue to trust the Lord to help me.

In review, anxious care produces the fruit of

• doubting God’s love for us
• mistrusting or distrusting Him
• hindering our example to others
• selfishness
• idolatry in our hearts

Before I close, let’s turn our focus on the fruit of laying our burdens down on the Lord.

In addition to the opposite of the above,

• We have God’s peace in our hearts and minds.

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7

• We have assurance of the Lord’s help.

“[The LORD] shall sustain thee.” Ps. 55:22

• We behave like humble, obedient children (instead of whiny toddlers). 

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of
his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.”
Ps. 131:1 – 2

I hope you have been encouraged to cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you!