After four months away from blogging, I’m back and hope to stay here posting more often. In May, you could say I was thrown a curveball, health-wise, by an exacerbation (a big word for worsening) of the MG (myasthenia gravis). I was out of commission for several weeks as a result.
Thank God, my strength is nearly back to where it was before the curveball hit me and knocked me down.
As I cried out to him with this new hit to my health, the Lord brought this verse to mind, “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken” (Psalm 55:22 NASB).
I especially like the note in my Bible indicating the word “burden” can mean, “what he has given you.”
“What God has given me.” That put a completely new spin on the idea of a burden. Somehow, as bad as the burden might be, knowing God has given this burden to me for this time, and knowing God, it is for a reason, gives me hope. Even when I don’t know that reason or how long the ordeal.
How is that I have hope? My hope is rooted in the character of God, not circumstances. I know God is compassionate and gracious, full of lovingkindness and truth (Exodus 34:6), and is righteous in all he does (Psalm 145:17).
And not only do I know it in my head from reading the words of Scripture. I have experienced God’s compassion and grace, his lovingkindness and truth and faithfulness. This experiential knowledge is part of me now.
Even when I cried out, “Why is this happening, God?” he reminded me to throw this curveball back to him. Knowing that he wants me to give it back to him also gives me hope. I have confidence that “what God has given me” is not for my destruction but for my growth in grace, and God, who gave the burden, will hold me together and not allow me to be shaken to pieces (Colossians 1:17) for I belong to him by faith in Jesus Christ. I will not destruct, because his gracious hand is holding me (Psalm 37:24). Peace follows from the decision to trust God and throw the burden back onto him.
I cannot have hope and peace and confidence if I refuse to throw that burden back onto the Lord, if I turn my questions into a rant and accusation against God that refuses to remember all the goodness of the Lord poured out on my life.
I’m not referring here to an honest pouring out of your heart to God as you wrestle with the real circumstances you find yourself in. The psalmists did that all the time. But they came with humble hearts as well to the God they knew they could trust, even when it felt like he was absent.
I’m talking about continuing to accuse God and harden my heart. If I harden myself to his kindness, I may very well become so brittle that I will be shaken into a thousand pieces. I may very well self-destruct.
I do not want to go there. Ever. From that place, it is a hard, long road to get back to where I should be. And I don’t have to go there, I don’t even have to carry that heavy burden. God will.
If we give the burden back to him.
When we do our part of that verse (cast our cares on God), he does his part (keeps us together, keeps us from falling apart). I can attest to the truth of that.
This hope and peace God gives are available to anyone who will humbly come to Jesus, embrace the truth that God cares for us enough to carry our burden, and throw their burden on the Lord in the midst of their suffering. Hope and peace are there for us because God is faithful to do his part, holding us up and keeping us from falling apart.
Now, because of his goodness and faithfulness keeping me from being shaken to pieces, I am back at the keyboard creating blog posts.
What is threatening to shake your world? Be encouraged to trust in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord in the midst of it.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash