The Burdened Heart

by G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Category: General | Dec 1972

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden" (Psa. 68:19).

"Cast thy burden (that He hath given thee, RVM) upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee" (Psa. 55:22).

Is your heart burdened about something? Do not despair. The Lord has a purpose in this. Everywhere there are burdened hearts, and most of all among those who have a care for others. But burdens are not really the sad things they seem to be, when we know how to deal with them - to take them to the Lord in prayer. It is He who daily bears our burdens, if we commit them to Him in prayer and faith.

By experience, we begin to realize that burdens, when rightly dealt with, can be the cause of much blessing. Then we begin to think of a burdened heart as something that the Lord gives for His glory and for our blessing.

Yes, there are burdened hearts everywhere, and the Lord permits the burdens so that we will bring them to Him. That really is the secret of the burdened heart. Believers often speak of their burdens to others, instead of casting them upon the Lord. To tell our burdens to others may bring a measure of

relief to us but it does not bring the victory and the joy that the Lord intends we should have. So our first lesson is that burdens are intended to bring us to the Lord in prayer.

We learn from the Word, and from the deep need around us, how vital it is that we should spend time in prayer with God. But if the daily round should crush out prayer from our lives, then a burden on our hearts may teach us how much we need it. Prayer is not optional for the Christian - it is his life-line. Without earnest private prayer the Christian will live a poor, stunted, fruitless kind of life. Even if we pray in public among the saints, and do not spend time in private prayer and supplication, our prayers will have little power. We must guard against this. Remember what the Lord said in Matt. 6:6.

Burdens are sent to drive us to God, the great Burden Bearer, who wants to relieve us and to make us joyful, victorious Christians. The more burdens we can bear, and bring to Him, so much the more can He use us in His glorious service.

But the burden on our hearts is not always lifted at once, even when we kneel and pray about it. What do we do then? Why, we kneel and pray about it again. And what if it does not lift even then? We kneel again and again, perhaps even with tears. And will it go at last? It surely will, if we believe that God is the rewarder of them that seek Him (Heb. 11:6). Remember Elijah on Mount Carmel, praying for the rain (1 Kings 18:42,43).

It is very important, not only to pray, but also to praise when we are waiting on God. The victory will often come when we praise God, even though our hearts are burdened. Remember the victory that God gave to Jehoshaphat, when Judah began to sing and to praise (2 Chron. 20:21-22). "This is the victory that hath overcome the world" said John, "even our faith" (1 John 5:4). If it can overcome the world, then surely it can overcome the burdens on our hearts.

And so, when each burden is taken to the Lord, and carried by Him, we are drawn closer to Him, to learn more of His love and power. Then we begin to realize the blessing that each burden can bring to us, and then we look on them in a different way. We no longer are weighed down by them. We give them to Him, and His joy is our strength. "Cast that He hath given thee upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved". What a God is ours! "Come and hear" said the Psalmist, "all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul" (Psa. 66:16). He had cast his burden upon the Lord, and had come away triumphant. So can we.

G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Dec 1972
General