How to Handle Burdens

[KiwiChristian]

How to Handle Burdens

Bible Reading: Matthew 11:28-30.

Aim: To show nine steps to handle burdens.

Introduction: We all have burdens to bear in life.

We have burdens due to: a) Other people causing us trouble; b) Burdens of our loved ones; c) The difficult nature of living in this world; d) Mistakes that we sometimes make.

The question we must answer is that, when we have burdens, how do we handle them?

1. Bring the burden to the Lord Jesus. ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28). To ‘come’ means to:
a) Receive Christ as Saviour; b) Fellowship daily with Christ;
c) Tell Christ about the burden and ask Him to deliver you and teach you key lessons from it.

2. Cast all your care upon him. ‘Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you’ (I Peter 5:7; Psalms 55:22). This is what we are to do: Tell God ‘Here, You take the burden. I now cast this problem on You for You to work it out.’ Commit your whole cause to Him. If we suffer heavy trials; lose friends, health or property; if we feel we are in danger of being crushed, we may go and cast all upon the Lord. We may look to Him for grace and strength and feel assured that He will enable us to bear with ease what we thought we could never have done; and the burden will appear light to us. ‘For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Matthew 11:30).

3. Do what God says to do while carrying the burden. In II Kings 5:1, Naaman came to the prophet of God, Elisha, for healing of leprosy. He was told to dip seven times in the Jordan river to be healed. Sometimes God wants us to do some things during our trials. Find them and do them.

4. Wait for the outcome. Answers may come later. ‘I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope’ (Psalm 130:5). ‘Let patience have her perfect work…’ (James 1:4).

5. Learn of Christ (Matthew 11:29). Question: During this time of burden, what does Christ want me to learn from this? What can I study in the Bible at this time?

6. Tell others when God gives you relief from the burden. Praise God for the victory when it comes. ‘Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee’ (Luke 8:26-39).

7. Take my yoke upon you. (Matthew 11:29) - means: a) Get busy serving God; b) Obey Christ and embrace His ways; c) Let Christ restrain your bad passions and inclinations.

Christ’s laws and requirements are MILD compared to the bondage and restraints of sin. So much so that we feel that Christ’s ways are like freedom.

8. If a burden came from sin, confess it to God, then ‘Go, and sin no more’ (John 8:11).

9. If the burden doesn’t go quickly, learn the lesson that God’s grace is sufficient to carry us through the trouble day by day. (II Corinthians 12:9).
 

[missmuffet]

You give all your cares and burdens to God. That is how you handle burdens.

[Dennis1209]

2 hours ago, KiwiChristian said:

9. If the burden doesn’t go quickly, learn the lesson that God’s grace is sufficient to carry us through the trouble day by day. (II Corinthians 12:9)

What's good enough for the Apostle Paul...   Nice post!

[Neighbor]

15 hours ago, missmuffet said:

You give all your cares and burdens to God. That is how you handle burdens.

 

 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
    and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
 Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
 because of the noise of the enemy,
    because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
    and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

 My heart is in anguish within me;
    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
 yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
 I would hurry to find a shelter
    from the raging wind and tempest.”

 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
    for I see violence and strife in the city.
 Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
     ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace.

 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
 But it is you, a man, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
 We used to take sweet counsel together;
    within God's house we walked in the throng.
 Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol alive;
    for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

 But I call to God,
    and the Lord will save me.
 Evening and morning and at noon
    I utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
 He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for many are arrayed against me.
 God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not change
    and do not fear God.

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
 His speech was smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were drawn swords.

 Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

 But you, O God, will cast them down
    into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and treachery
    shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you."

                                    -   Psalm (of David)  55

 

I will bless the Lord at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!

 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
 Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.

 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!
 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

 Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
 What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may see good?
 Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
 Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
 He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
 Affliction will slay the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

                                                                        - Psalm (of David) 34

(Jeremiah's Complaint)

Righteous are you, O Lord,
    when I complain to you;
    yet I would plead my case before you.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
 You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and produce fruit;
you are near in their mouth
    and far from their heart.
 But you, O Lord, know me;
    you see me, and test my heart toward you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
 How long will the land mourn
    and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
    the beasts and the birds are swept away,
    because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
 For even your brothers and the house of your father,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.”

 “I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my soul
    into the hands of her enemies.
 My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
    therefore I hate her.
 Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair?
    Are the birds of prey against her all around?
Go, assemble all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
 They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
    but no man lays it to heart.
 Upon all the bare heights in the desert
    destroyers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no flesh has peace.
 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their^[a] harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

 Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. ¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lordlives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷ But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”                                

                      - The LORD's Answer to  Jeremiah

 

The casting of burdens upon the LORD is not the eliminating of problems, it is the handling of them.

God sustains the person that casts their burdens upon Him. He may  shorten the life of an oppressor. He may reward the person that is oppressed that calls upon Him for His help. But He may also or even instead remind the oppressed to get up off their duff, stop feeling sorry for themself, stop lamenting in their plight, and get on with the toughening up that God is Himself preparing His own to handle. 

                                                                   - Neighbor's commentary for consideration

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Neighbor

[Neighbor]

From CBN  comes this take on the movie line WHAT IF THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS? 

"As Good As It Gets

Jennifer E. Jones

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CBN.com A man who incidentally suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder leaves his psychiatrist’s office frustrated and anxious. He steps into the waiting area where other patients are seated and stops as if an epiphany hit him. 

“What if this is as good as it gets?” he asks and then he leaves. The patients remain frozen, pondering the possibility.

It’s my favorite scene from the movie of the same name, As Good As It Gets. It’s a funny moment, but it’s really a question about contentment. Can you honestly look at you life as it stands right now and say, “Freeze frame. Am I okay with what I see?”

You might say no and probably have good reasons why. Life can certainly throw some unfair curveballs our way. You might say, “yes, but…”, and the qualifiers start coming out. Well, of course you’d be happier if you had more money, a more attentive spouse, a nicer job, etc.

I am as guilty of discontentment as the next guy. I have pinned a certain level of happiness on milestones that I have yet to achieve. But there comes a time in every daydreamer’s life when she has to ask, “If this as good as it gets, what am I going to do about it?”

“The future is no place to place your better days” – Dave Matthews, “Cry Freedom”

I think God put contentment in our grasps. Paul, who is among our examples for a Christian life, wrote about being content in his present situation, which was often being homeless, in jail or in some type of peril. If anyone had a reason to be discontented, it was Paul. Here he was doing God’s work and people always wanted to kill him. Don’t believe me? Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-26. Shipwrecked, flogged, robbed, stoned… it wasn’t easy being Paul, yet he wrote to the Philippians:

I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have. I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything. (Philippians 4:11-13, CEV)

The rock that Paul leaned on was his belief in Christ. He found contentment in the fact that Jesus never left him and that the Holy Spirit was continually helping along his journey. He found that the far-reaching arm of grace was enough to hold him no matter how close he came to the brink. Quite simply, to Paul every day that he had another breath was a gift. Life – somewhere in its core, with all its imperfections and pitfalls – was good.

The older I get, the more I know that the winds of change are inevitable, but their timing is often a mystery. You just never know when or how your situation will improve. So, when faced with discontentment, the more reliable decision would be to change one’s perspective of the circumstance – rather than waiting for the circumstance itself to change.

Either way, it’s always good to stop in the middle of the crowdedness of life and ask the question, “What if this is as good as it gets?” And if it is, then ask God where you can find joy and the peace in this moment. Let God show you where He has hidden His grace for you, because I promise, it’s there."

 

 

 Please allow me to repeat from that conclusion;  " it’s always good to stop in the middle of the crowdedness of life and ask the question, “What if this is as good as it gets?” And if it is, then ask God where you can find joy and the peace in this moment. Let God show you where He has hidden His grace for you,"....

Edited November 10, 2017 by Neighbor

[lastofall]

For every man shall bear his own burden. (Galatians 6:5) 

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)