In a world that has been completely disarranged by sin, it is inevitable that even the saintliest and
the best should at times have to carry heavy burdens and to bear grievous loads. That is true of
the children of God irrespective of age, sex, or social position. However men may differ in other
things, they are all one in this_that each has his own specific problem or sorrow or cross.

These burdens are of various kinds. There are burdens of the body, such as chronic invalidism and
the limitations of old age; burdens of the mind, such as perplexity and anxiety; burdens of the
soul, such as loneliness and the consciousness of regret.

There are three verses in the Bible that tell us what our Heavenly Father says to His children who
are carrying such loads. The first says that "Every man shall bear his own burden" (Gal. 6:5). The
second exhorts us to bear "one another’s burdens" (6:2). The third tells us, "Cast your burden
upon the Lord" (Psa. 55:22). The first of these scriptures speaks of something we must do; the
second of something we should do; and the third of something we may do.

Something We Must Do

"Every man shall bear his own burden." There are burdens that we cannot share. Each heart
knows its own bitterness, and has things with which a stranger dare not intermeddle (Prov. 14:10).
Perhaps the most poignant and distressing of these is the consciousness of sorrow for mistakes that
lie in the past_for sins committed even after we were converted to God. "In the inner room of life
sits Regret with her pale face; and Shame with dust on her forehead; and Memory with tears in her
eyes." The cross that our own hands fashion_the self-imposed burden, the self-inflicted
torment_is the heaviest cross of all.

Now, if to life’s burdens there is to be added the haunting memory of past transgressions, the load
will prove too heavy for us. It is just here that our Heavenly Father comes to us with the message
of deliverance and healing and rest. His Word makes very clear the way of deliverance, not only
from the penalty of sin, but also from its devastating consequences in the heart and memory and
earthly life of the pardoned one. Some sins are committed against God alone and should be
confessed to Him alone (1 John 1:9). Other sins may be committed against an individual privately;
these should be put right with the individual privately as well as confessed to God (Matt. 5:23,24).
A third class of sins may be of a public character as, for example, when a man publicly slanders
another, or where an entire community or nation is affected as in the case of Achan (Joshua 7).
The last-named offenses necessitate public confession, as well as confession to God.

From long experience of such problems as they affect the children of God, I would say to any
burdened one:Beware of allowing the enemy of God and man to drive you into confession in
public of that which should be spoken into the ear of God alone, or that which only God and the
individual concerned should hear. Some extremely sensitive Christians have done these things, but
there is no necessity why they should be done. When the thing that has lain like a burden on the
heart has been put right in accordance with the foregoing principles, then you will enter
experimentally into the blessedness of assurances such as these:"I have blotted out, as a thick

cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed you"
(Isa. 44:22). "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from
us" (Psa. 103:12). "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17). We indeed
are foolish if we resurrect what He has buried, or remember what He has forgotten. That does not
mean that memory has, with us, ceased to function; but it does mean that the sting has been
removed from the sad recollections of the past, and that regarding them the mind and heart are at
rest. Therefore:

Waste no tears
Upon the blotted record of past years,
But turn the leaf and smile, oh smile to see
The fair white pages that remain for thee.

Something We Should Do

"Bear one another’s burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

In the Greek the Apostle uses two entirely different words when he refers to the burdens that must
be borne by the individual Christian and those that can be shared with others. In Gal. 6:5 he uses
a word that describes a soldier’s kit which a soldier alone is expected to carry. In 6:2 he uses a
word that describes a series of packages, some of which may be carried by others. And so the
scripture which we are now examining speaks of a sacred and most helpful ministry which is
within reach of us all:"Bear one another’s burdens."

A concrete illustration of how that ministry may be exercised, and a description of the person who
is fitted to exercise it, is given in Gal. 6:1:"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness:considering yourself, lest you also be
tempted." Three questions arise in this verse:(a) What is to be done? "If a man be overtaken in
a fault … restore such an one." The word translated "restore" is a surgical term and is used of the
resetting of a fractured bone or dislocated limb. These are operations that call for the tenderest
touch and most qualified skill. (b) Who is to do it? "You who are spiritual." The physician
required for this task must be truly spiritual. (c) How is he to do it? "In the spirit of meekness,"
ever bearing in mind his own liability to be similarly tempted. He comes alongside his erring
brother and, with gentleness and a lowly heart, fulfills the law of Christ.

Softly he toucheth for the reed is tender,
Wisely enkindles for the flame is low.

Something We May Do

"Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you." The Scottish version is very
expressive:"Fling all your care on Him, for He alone can hold you straight."

Note carefully that this scripture does not say:"Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall
sustain it." The promise is that He shall sustain not only it, but you. Henry Moorhouse, when

heavily pressed on one occasion, had the meaning of these beautiful words suddenly flashed upon
his soul. His little daughter, who was a paralytic, was sitting in her chair as he entered the house
with a package for his wife. Going up to the little lass and kissing her, he asked, "Where is
mother?" "Mother is upstairs." "Well, I have a package for her." "Let me carry the package to
mother." "Why, Minnie dear, how can you carry the package; you cannot carry yourself." With
a smile on her face Minnie said, "Oh no, Papa; you give me the package and I will carry the
package and you will carry me." There is, surely, a great lesson for us here.

Cast thou thy burden on the Lord;
What then? Will He bear it while I go free?
Nay, weary soul, not thus doth read the Word:
He will sustain_not it, not it_but thee.
The burden still is thine:it is thy gift,
Bestowed by Him who knoweth all thy need:
But now the everlasting arms shall lift
And fold thee close_and thou shalt rest indeed.

It is helpful to compare this heavenly counsel with two similar verses in the New Testament_Phil.
4:6,7 and 1 Pet. 5:7. These may be summarized thus:(a) What we are to do:"Cast all our care
upon God." (b) How we are to do it? "By prayer and supplication." (c) Why we are to do it:
"Because He cares for you."

This counsel is all-inclusive. "Casting all your care upon Him"_heart cares, domestic cares,
business cares, small cares, great cares_every conceivable kind of care. Let us always remember
that there is nothing too great for His power (Jer. 32:17), nothing too insignificant for His love
(Matt. 10:29-31).

What a friend we have in Jesus!