For Help To Carry The Burdens Of Life

Study 4 THE PROMISE OF SUPPORT FOR BURDENED PEOPLE – Words of Life Ministries

For Help To Carry The Burdens Of Life

GREAT PROMISES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT by Francis Dixon

(Key verse: Psalm 55:22)

All of us carry cares (NIV) or burdens (KJV). We are living in a world of sorrow, and trouble comes to all mankind –- compare Job 5:7; 14:1.

Some people have to carry heavier burdens than others and are frustrated throughout their lives; some have hidden burdens which others know nothing about. Often the deepest and most poignant burdens are those which are not seen.

A quiet reading of Psalm 55 will convince us that the psalmist was a very burdened man. The word ““horror”” in verse 5 emphasises the intensity of his burden, which leads us to ask:-
 

1. What kinds of burdens do people carry?

  1. 1. Burdens to do with the home; in many homes there is poverty, sickness and sorrow.
  2. 2. Burdens that have to do with business responsibilities.
  3. 3. Burdens in connection with the Lord’’s work (2 Corinthians 11:28).
  4. 4.

    Burdens to do with our friends. Psalm 55:12-14 describes this kind of experience.

  5. 5. Physical burdens (2 Corinthians 12:7).
  6. 6. Temperamental burdens. These make us prone to fear, anxiety, worry, depression and even despair.
  7. 7.

    Burdens connected with loss and bereavement (John 11:19).

  8. 8. The burden of great disappointment.
  9. 9. The heaviest burden of all –- the burden of sin which is unforgiven, of an unruly tongue or an uncontrolled temper (Romans 7:24-25).

2. What are we to do with these burdens?

In this psalm we are told several things which we are not to do in relation to our burdens:-

  1. 1. We are not to doubt God (verse 1). How easily we can be filled with doubt when trouble comes! But we must never doubt God. No relief can be found this way, but only an increase of trouble.
  2. 2. There is the temptation to complain and to indulge in self-pity (verse 2). Here is something to avoid because there is no relief from our burdens in complaining and self-pity.
  3. 3. We must guard against the danger of despair. There is no doubt that verses 4 and 5 describe a man who was in great despair; but we can get no relief from our burdens by getting into this condition.
  4. 4. We must not yield to the desire to escape. If we run away we carry our burden with us –- although it is natural to want to run away –- look at verses 6-7.
  5. 5. We must not become bitter against others, as the psalmist did (verse 15).

How, then, can we find relief when we are heavily burdened? Three things are clearly indicated in the wonderful promise contained in Psalm 55:22:-

  1. 1. We are to accept the cares or burdens from the Lord. The words ‘‘cares’’ (NIV) or ‘‘burden’’ (KJV) literally mean ‘’gift’’. Did you ever think of your burden as a gift from God? To understand this is to take the first step in the transformation of trouble! That trial, that disappointment, that loss –- is that God’’s doing? Yes, He has permitted it, child of God. He has trusted you with it for some very wise and loving purpose (Romans 8:28). It has not come because of ‘’fate’’ or ‘‘bad luck’’; it is not simply ‘’just one of those things’’. It may have come from the Devil, but it has come only with the Lord’’s full permission. Therefore accept it from His hands. One reason why He gives us burdens to bear is so that He may draw us closer to Himself –- look at the last part of Psalm 55:19. How easily we forget Him and how slack we become when life is easy! Your burden, whatever it is – will you accept it from the Lord?
  2. 2. We are to cast the cares, the burdens, upon the Lord. The word ‘‘cast’’ literally means ‘’throw’’ and it denotes action and effort. Daniel was thrown into the lions’’ den (Daniel 6:16); Jonah was thrown overboard into the sea (Jonah 1:15); the Devil will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10); and you and I are to throw, to cast, our cares and burdens upon the Lord. His gracious word to sinners and to saints is found in Matthew 11:28-30. Here we see a further reason why He gives us these burdens –- that in our weakness we may prove His strength and the all-sufficiency of His grace. He wants us to learn the great two-fold lesson that we cannot, but He can! Read about the Apostle Paul’’s heavy burden: from whom it came, why God permitted it, how Paul prayed for it to be removed and what God said to him in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9(a). Now see what Paul was able to say after God had spoken to him –- verses 9(b) and 10! Your burden, your trial, whatever it is, will you cast it upon the Lord? Will you let Him carry it for you?
  3. 3. We are to leave the cares, the burdens, with the Lord. Once we have cast these upon Him He assumes full responsibility for us and He promises to sustain us. How wonderful this is! “He will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22) –- and further, “He will never let the righteous fall.” Do you believe that?
    ““Cast your burden on the Lord (releasing the weight of it) and He will sustain you; He will never allow the (consistently) righteous to be moved – made to slip, fall or fail.”” (Amplified Bible)

Источник: //www.wordsoflife.co.uk/bible-studies/study-4-the-promise-of-support-for-burdened-people/

Deciding Whom to Help: The Burden Load Principle

For Help To Carry The Burdens Of Life

“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth”. 1 Jn 3:17-18

These verses tell us that if God’s love abides in us, we will put it into action. When we see a brother in need, we will not close our hearts against him but demonstrate our love by our deeds. We will “walk the walk”, not simply “talk the talk”.

But this challenge begs balance

Does God expect us to literally help every needy person we encounter? This would seem to contradict his commands of good stewardship (Matthew 25:14-30). But neither does He want us to be so overwhelmed with the challenge that we help no one. Trying to help everyone leads to guilt and frustration; helping no one leads to selfishness and a calloused heart.

A helpful guideline for keeping this balance is what I call the “burden load principle.”

Understand the difference between a “burden” and a “load”

Paul tells the Galatians to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. (Gal. 6:2) Three verses later he says “For each will have to bear his own load.” (Gal. 6:5)

Is he speaking riddles here? Which is it? Do we step in and help or do we let the person do it himself? The key is understanding the words “burden” and “load”.

The burden is comparable to a boulder – something that is impossible for the person to carry on his own.

In this text, it is used to describe someone who is overwhelmed with sin, but it could also be used to describe a financial, emotional or physical struggle as well.

The “load” in verse five is a small backpack; something that can be easily carried.

The lesson in these two verses is that we should not do for a person what he can do for himself; it is a healthy thing to “bear his own load”. However, when someone is so weighted down that they simply can’t handle the burden, we who are able should step up and help.

Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, in their “Boundaries” book series, stress that when we haven’t established healthy relational boundaries, we often act as a result of guilt, obligation or manipulation…not love.

Clearly understanding this burden/load dynamic will allow us to say “no” gracefully while choosing to say “yes” when the need is indeed a burden.

The difference is huge, for we are able to love only when we are free to choose to do so.

Think of this principle in Jesus’ life: he chose to raise Lazarus from the dead (burden), but he commanded others to roll the stone away and unbind his strips (loads). He fed the 5000 (burden) but had his disciples distribute the food and pick up the abundance (loads). Jesus did not do everything for everyone; he did and does do what we can’t do.

The problem with principles

The burden/load principle is a great one, but, many principles, it will miss the mark if applied legalistically.

Paul said, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Co 13:3.

Giving is a quality of someone who loves, but never a substitute for love.

Deciding not to help is not license for becoming judgmental

Have you ever become judgmental of a person who doesn’t carry the load she is capable of carrying? Don’t. While we probably shouldn’t enable that person by doing for her what she can do for herself, we nevertheless need to be a friend and have an open heart toward her. One can’t do this and also be judgmental.

We shouldn’t try to carry every burden

I may not be qualified, for example, to counsel a man who is abusing his wife. But, assuming that he wants help, I can put him in contact with a pastor or counselor who can. At any rate, I should not close my heart toward him.

We are called first and foremost to love. Our opening verses (1 Jn 3:17-18) are written to remind us that love isn’t love unless action takes place. By establishing guidelines, we free ourselves up to take those actions because we choose to.  This is love.

One more thought: when you are burdened by the needs you see around you, God will step in and help you carry that burden.  No burden is too great for Him.

Readers:  When you  feel overwhelmed with the needs all around you, how do you choose whom to help?

Источник: //www.patheos.com/blogs/faithandfinance/2018/06/07/deciding-whom-to-help-the-burden-load-principle/

Buddhism – The Five Great Burdens of Life

For Help To Carry The Burdens Of Life

by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw

In Buddhism everything associated with our minds and bodies contributes to our suffering. The Buddhia recognized this and prescribed a pessimistic review of life to wake us up from our reveries and become mindful of the harsh realities of our existence.

He wanted us not to be lost in a dream existence oblivious to the suffering we cause to ourselves and others in the cycle of births and deaths. He therefore advised us to focus upon our own minds and bodies and understand how suffering would arise from the aggregates of our own bodies due to craving.

That realization would lead to gradual inner awakening, dispassion, and detachment. The following short essay on the five khandas by Mahasi Sayadaw elaborates upon this theme.

A mindful attention to the five aggregates in the body leads to the conclusion that every aspect of our personalities is either the cause or an effect of suffering and their rejection is the only solution to resolve it. Jayaram V

The Burden

In the womb, the five aggregates appertaining to him have to be cared for. What is the heavy burden? The khandhas are the heavy burden.

Who accepts the heavy burden? Tanha, craving, accepts the heavy burden.

What is meant by throwing down the burden? Annihilation of tanha is throwing down the burden.

Heavy is the burden of the five khandhas.

Acceptance of the burden is suffering; rejection of the burden is conducive to happiness.

When craving is uprooted from its very foundation, no desires arise. An old burden having been laid aside, no new burden can be imposed.

Then, one enters Nibbana, the abode of eternal peace.

— Discourse on the Bhara Sutta

How Heavy Is the Burden!

How heavy the burden is! When a man is conceived in his mother's The mother is to give him all necessary protection so that he may be safely born to develop well into a human being. She has to be careful in her daily pursuits, in her diet, in her sleep, etc. If the mother happens to be a Buddhist, she will perform meritorious deeds on behalf of the child to be born.

When the child is at last born, it cannot take care of itself. It is looked after by its mother and the elders. It has to be fed with mother's milk. It has to be bathed, cleansed, and clothed. It has to be carried from place to place. It takes at least two or three persons to look after and bring up this tiny burden of the five khandhas.

When a man comes of age, he will have to look after himself. He will have to feed himself two or three times a day. If he s good food, he will have to make special efforts to get it. He must make himself clean, bathe himself, clothe himself.

To tone up his body, he will have to do some daily exercise. He must do everything himself. When he feels hot, he cools himself and when he feels cold, he warms himself up. He has to be careful to keep up his health and well-being.

When he takes a walk, he sees that he does not stumble. When he travels, he sees that he meets no danger. In spite of all these precautions, he may fall sick at times, and will have to take medicinal treatment.

It is a great burden to tend to the welfare of his khandhas, the five aggregates of psycho-physical phenomena.

The greatest burden for a living being is to fend for himself. In the case of human beings, some have to work for a living starting from the age of twelve or thirteen, and for that purpose they have to be educated.

Some can get only an elementary schooling and so they can get employment only as menials.

Those who can get a good education are profitably employed in higher positions; but then they have to work day in and day out without any break.

But those who were born into this world with past good kamma do not feel the burden.

A man born with the best kamma has been fed and clothed since childhood by his parents who gave him the best education as he came of age.

Even when he grows to be a man they continue to give him all support to raise him up into a man of position who can fulfill his desires and wants. Such a fortunate man may not know how heavy the burden of life is.

Those whose past kamma is not good never know affluence. As children they know only hunger, not being able to eat what they would to eat or dress in a way that they would to dress. Now that they have grown up, they are just trying to keep their body and soul together.

Some do not even have their daily quota of rice ready for the table. Some have to get up early to pound rice for cooking. Some do not even have that rice; and so they have to borrow some from their neighbors.

If you want to know more about this life, go to poor men's quarters and make enquiries yourself.

— Discourse on the Bhara Sutta

Carrying the Heavy Burden

This body, one of the khandhas, is a heavy burden. Serving it means carrying the heavy burden. When we feed and clothe it, we are carrying the burden. That means we are servants to the aggregate of matter (rupakkhandha).

Having fed and clothed the body, we must also see to it that it is sound and happy both in the physical and psychological sense. This is serving the aggregate of feeling (vedanakkhandha). Again, we must see that this body experiences good sights and sounds. This is concerned with consciousness.

Therefore we are serving the aggregate of consciousness (viññanakkhandha).

These three burdens are quite obvious. Rupakkhandha says: “Feed me well. Give me what I to eat; if not, I shall make myself ill or weak. Or, worse still, I shall make myself die!” Then we shall have to try to please it.

Then vedanakkhandha also says: “Give me pleasurable sensations; if not, I shall make myself painful and regretful. Or, worse still, I shall make myself die!” Then we shall have to hanker after pleasurable sensations to serve its needs.

Then viññanakkhandha also says: “Give me good sights. Give me good sounds. I want pleasant sense-objects. Find them for me; if not, I shall make myself unhappy and frightful. Eventually I shall make myself die!” Then we shall have to do its biddings.

It is as if all these three khandhas are perpetually threatening us. So we cannot help complying with their demands; and this compliance is a great burden on us.

The aggregate of volitional activities (sankharakkhandha) is another burden. Life demands that we satisfy our daily needs and desires and for that satisfaction we have to be active. We must be working all the time. This round of human activities gets encouragement from our volition prompted by desire.

These activities make threatening demand on us daily, indicating that, if they are not met, trouble and even death would ensue. When human desires remain unfulfilled, they resort to crime.

How heavy the burden of the sankharas rests upon us! It is because we cannot carry this load well upon our shoulders that we get demoralized into committing sin that brings shame upon us. Criminal offenses are committed mostly because we cannot carry the burden of sankharakkhandha well.

When criminals die, they may fall into the nether world of intense suffering or they may be reborn as hungry ghosts or animals. Even when they are reborn as human beings, their evil actions will follow in their wake and punish them.

They may be short-lived; they may be oppressed with disease all the time; they may face poverty and starvation; they may be friendless; they may be always living in danger or in troublesome surroundings.

The aggregate of perception (saññakkhandha) is also a great burden; because it is with perception that you train your faculties memory to be able to retain knowledge and wisdom which can discern good from bad and reject from your mind unwholesome things produced by unpleasant sense-objects. If the demands of the mind for pleasant sense-objects are not met, it will take up only evil, which does nobody any good. Regrets and anxieties arise because we cannot shoulder the burden of saññakkhandha well.

For all these reasons the Buddha declared the five aggregates of clinging (upadanakkhandha) a heavy burden.

We carry the burden of our khandhas not for a short time, not for a minute, not for an hour, not for a day, not for a year, not for one life, not for one world, not for one eon.

We carry the burden from the beginning of samsara, the round of rebirths, which is infinite. It has no beginning. And there is no way of knowing when it will end.

Its finality can be reached only with the extermination of the defilements of the mind (kilesa), as we get to the stage of the path of the Noble Ones (arahatta magga).

— Discourse on the Bhara Sutta

Источник: //hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/essays/aggregatesburden.asp

The Wearying Burden of Ongoing Suffering

For Help To Carry The Burdens Of Life

My heart has been incredibly weary lately. I have struggled to find words that adequately express the tumultuous emotions within my spirit. Daily, I need to fight the impulse to turn inward and disconnect from those around me, as I teeter between pressing on or succumbing to the crushing weight of heartache, pain, and fear.

Crushed by Suffering

Months have stretched into years of enduring, waiting, hoping, praying, clinging, and surviving suffering that seems to have no conceivable end. A battle has been waged over my family and me. The enemy seems intent upon turning my heart against the Lord for the pain he has allowed.

For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness those long dead. Therefore, my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. (Psalm 143:3-4)

But I am God’s daughter, and I’m trusting with all I have (as weak as my faith may be) that he will not let me go. In my brokenness, all I can do is believe that he will carry me through and prove himself faithful.

Is it a lack of faith to grieve and wrestle with the deep realities of heartache and loss? We live in a culture that’s so uncomfortable with suffering that we mask our hurt, cover our blemishes, medicate our pain, and explain our confusion away. Of course, pain is not to be glorified either, as if we are holier because we suffer.

However, the reality is that suffering hurts. It’s uncomfortable, sends some friends running, others judging things they cannot understand.

Ongoing suffering is unsettling, disorienting, confusing, and stirs deep questions of faith that we usually don’t have to face until suffering forces us to. But by God’s grace, I’m choosing to face it head on, rather than running from it.

We must choose how we will respond when the heaviness of life leaves us feeling joyless, hopeless, and even in despair.

Two Encouragements to Persevere

I have found great encouragement in the words of Paul, a man whose greatest desire was to love and glorify God, yet who also suffered much as he fought the good fight of faith. I am thankful for the way God used Paul’s devastating circumstances to encourage the Corinthians, and countless others who have suffered through the ages.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

1. The Lord allows us to “reach a point of having no intellectual, physical, or emotional human resource to fall back on” in order to drive us to rely on him alone

After nine years of fighting an unseen enemy that has wrought unimaginable havoc through destructive neurological behaviors in our oldest son (and thus our other children), recent evidence seems to point to Lyme disease. This means a long uncertain future of costly treatments without any guarantees of healing.

There is no area of our lives that has not been touched by a little tick that bit me and infected me years ago, which I then unknowingly passed on to all four of my children.

Until recently, mysterious health problems had sent us from doctor to doctor, adding financial loss and burden to the many other stresses we were facing, while doctors simply shook their heads in confusion.

Even now that we have identified the enemy, treatments are complex. It’s hard not to battle fear and despair. As a woman and mother who desires to bring order and peace to our home, I must fight constant feelings of failure over the turmoil that seems constant there. Misguided judgments from people who don’t understand also leave me feeling vulnerable.

But by God’s grace, and despite my flailing, the Lord continues to carry me, change me, and help me press on another moment.

As Paul experienced the complete emptying of his own resources in order to learn to rely fully on Christ, I am learning to do the same.

Though I often feel a die a thousand deaths every day, I am experiencing greater life in Christ. For the more that I am emptied, the more I am filled.  

Are you in this place right now? You may be experiencing far greater trials than I am, circumstances I can’t even imagine.

If you are despairing of life itself, uncertain whether you can endure one more moment of your pain, remember that the apostle Paul, a strong man of God, experienced the same. Even more, so did Jesus.

He bore the entire weight of the world’s sin and the wrath of his Father in order that you and I would always have the presence and resources of the Almighty God.

2. The Lord uses circumstances that tempt us to despair of life to magnify the power of the gospel in our lives

Circumstances that feel hopeless magnify the hope of the gospel. Circumstances that reveal our weaknesses magnify the strength of Christ. Circumstances that cause our love for this world to fade cause our love for Christ to grow. Circumstances that bring about the loss of earthly things magnify the glorious riches of eternity.

Therefore, although suffering is painful, it is a also a reminder that this life is a believer’s temporary home. When life is going well, it’s easy to be generally thankful for the gospel, but not to allow the veins of its truth to give life to us.

However, when disappointment and suffering strike, the gospel becomes our life-line and empowers us to live victoriously.

This has been true for me as I’ve desperately needed the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual strength to press on each day.

When my child is causing deep hurt in another one of my children, I need the love, grace, and patience of Christ to flow through me before I react. When I see pain in one of my children, but feel helpless to do anything about it, I need the reminder that Christ is grieved by their pain and remains Lord over it.

When I feel insecurity rise up in me when I see the worry in my husband’s face over finances, I need to remind myself that my true security in Christ, no matter what happens. When my body aches and I want to crawl into bed and sink into despair, I need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s strength to endure and focus on truth.

When the tenth doctor expresses how perplexed he is and suggests we see someone else, I must go to the Word to remember that God knows all things, that he is sovereignly working all things out for my good, even when the wise of this world are left baffled.

The truth and power of the gospel is not just our guaranteed future inheritance in heaven, it is the promised power, purpose, presence, and fullness of Christ in every moment of our lives on earth.

Because of the gospel, suffering is no longer meaningless, but is wielded by the Lord to be used for our good, to change us into the people that our redeemed selves long to be: reflections of Christ.

 

Joy Comes with the Morning

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning…You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30:5, 11-12)

As I write this, I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else. My temptation is to quit, become a hermit, and bottle up the bitter ache within my soul.

But that would allow the enemy to have his way and, by the grace of God, he will not have his way in my life. I am the Lord’s and I know that he will not let me go.

Whether I see God redeem this story in my lifetime or not, I am confident it will be redeemed.

Whatever your own circumstances are, I pray that you will be confident in this. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are covered in his promises. Though you may feel burdened beyond your strength and in despair, Christ will be your strength. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy will come in the morning.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But it will come. One day, he will turn our mourning into dancing, and we will be clothed in gladness, singing praises to his name and giving thanks for all that he has done.

Источник: //unlockingthebible.org/2016/08/the-wearying-burden-of-ongoing-suffering/

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