What things are you carrying today?
What questions do you have that are unanswered?
What plans do you have hanging in the balance?
What dreams are you still holding on to, hoping that one day they will come to fruition?
What sorrow is making your heart heavy?
What joy is making your heart sing?
This morning I went out to the Hope House to have some much needed time away with the Lord. To say that those couple of hours were a gift is an extreme understatement. My to-do list is a mile long, but I knew that I needed to be away with my Lord.
My heart is heavy over certain things. My heart is elated over other things. I have several things I am excitedly anticipating and many things that I am nervously awaiting.
Sometimes, the complexity of all of those things can make my head spin.
Do you ever feel that way?
The myriad of emotions playing out within you as life progresses can be exhausting.
How do you hold it all and not crack?
Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.” In the original language, “cares” can also be translated to “burden.”
Burden means, “that which is given.”
What I love about the literal definition of the original word is that burden is not just the bad things like we often think of it, it’s the good things too. It’s the mundane things. It’s the frustrating things and the humorous things. It’s the beautiful things and the ugly things. It’s the things that make you smile and the things that make you cry.
Our burdens are “that which are given.”
Life.
And God wants you to bring all of your life to Him.
Not just the hard.
When you bring all of that which is given to you to the Lord, He will sustain you.
I know I’m a Bible nerd but the original word for sustain is “kul.” It is used 38 times in scripture and it often is used when God provides food. For example, when God sent Elijah into the Kerith Ravine to hide from King Ahab, God sent the ravens to “kul” him. Later, God sent Elijah to Zarephath where a widow would “kul” him. The ravens brought him meat, the widow made him bread. Both of which sustained him.
In the New Testament, Jesus describes himself as the bread of life (John 6:35). If we partake of him, he will sustain us.
This morning I was able to lay all of that which has been given to me before my Lord. His peace filled my soul as I spent time with him.
He sustains me.
The key to not cracking from all of the complexities of life is to cast your cares on the Lord.
He wants to carry them all – the highs, the lows, the in-betweens.
He will sustain you.
He will “kul” you.
Thanks be to Him.
“As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me…cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken… as for me, I trust in you.” Psalm 55: 16, 22, 23.
God, thank you for being willing to carry our burdens and sustain us by your love.
We would love for you to come and experience the gentleness and mercy of God through time at the Hope House through our non-profit, Hope Ridge! Reservations can be made here.
And for your worship benefit…
