Sunday 22 (Tripp)

Corporate worship is designed to remind you that you have been welcomed to place your cares on the capable shoulders of your Savior King.

As Emma walked into my office, she looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. I didn’t even have a chance to greet her before she blurted out, “I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” She was watching her marriage fall apart, but despite all her efforts to restore it and reconcile with her husband, it was now worse than it had ever been. She told me she couldn’t live like this and that for the last few days all she wanted to do was to die.

The bullying Jamie endured at school seemed more intense than ever. He didn’t want to talk too much about it with his parents because he didn’t want to worry them. He was afraid to go to the school counselor because he thought that if the bullies found out, they would go after him even more. One morning his alarm rang, but he didn’t get out of bed. He couldn’t face another day at school. He pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to deny the sad realities of his teenage life.

Bill didn’t have much money, he worked a job he didn’t really like, and he didn’t have much of a circle of friends. But what burdened him the most was the huge weight of regret he carried with him every day. It was like a backpack of rocks waiting at the foot of his bed that he put on every day when he got up. He had made so many bad choices as a teenager, and now he was paying the price. Everything he did was marred by guilt and shame. He just couldn’t seem to chuck the burden. He ended every day completely exhausted by the burden of the regret, guilt, and shame he constantly carried.

Charlotte had been the single woman at too many weddings. She hated when she got another invitation to another friend’s wedding. It made her envious, it made her mad, and it made her wonder what in the world was wrong with her. She was way beyond high school and college, where she had dated a bit. Now there were few available men in her life, and those who were acted as if they didn’t know she existed. She knew she shouldn’t be bitter, but she was. She knew there were many blessings in her life, but she was still discontent. She was tired of the burden of being alone.

Each of these people is suffering not just from carrying burdens of life in a broken, groaning world, but because they are shouldering these heavy burdens alone. It is true that life between the “already” and the “not yet” is marked by burdensome moments. Perhaps that burden is a particular temptation that seems to stalk and haunt you. Maybe it’s the burden of human rejection or the loss of a dear loved one. It could be that the burden is the death of a dream. Perhaps it’s the doors that are closed to you because of your faith. Maybe your burden is physical weakness or financial want. It could be that you’re dealing with the crushing burden of a family that has been shattered by sin and anger. Maybe it’s the burden of a boss who makes every day of your work life harder than it otherwise would be. Maybe it’s a church that is gone because of leaders who lost their way. Maybe your burden is anxiety, fear, or depression. We all carry burdens that we, thankfully, will no longer carry once grace has finally and forever led us to the other side.

Our Creator did not design us for independent living. There is no greater, more destructive lie than the one told by the serpent in the garden, that is, that Adam and Eve could live well apart from dependence upon the one who made them. Human independence is a delusion that will take you nowhere good. So we need to have our instinct for independence confronted again and again. And we need to hear this invitation again and again: “. . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). God has designed for us to gather with one another again and again precisely because we are weak and needy people who were not designed for independent living. As we gather, we remember again that there is one who cares for us and who is both willing and capable of meeting us in our moment of burden and doing in us and for us what no one else would be able to do. We gather to remember that our Lord understands what we are going through, because for thirty-three years he walked in our shoes, experiencing all the burdens we now experience. We gather to remember that he is tender. Isaiah tells us that “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (42:3). He rules all the situations and locations where we carry those anxieties, burdens, and cares. He is present with us always, promising to never leave or forsake us. His grace is inexhaustible, his love is boundless, and his mercies are new every morning. We gather to remember that God’s grace doesn’t move us from dependence to independence, but from independence to a humble, joyful dependence on our Savior. So as we come together week after week, tired and needy, reaching again for his help, he receives us with tender grace and he willingly shoulders burdens we are unable to bear alone.

Psalm 55:22 ESV

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

Lamentations 3:19–24 ESV

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Reflections: Is there a heavy burden that you have been shouldering alone that you need to hand over to the Lord?

Family Discussion: Why do you think Satan wants us to believe the lie that human independence is a good thing? Discuss the comforting words in the above passages.