"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden (Psa. 68:19, Revised Version). In the KJV this
verse reads, "Who daily loads us with benefits." Both thoughts are true, and as we lay hold of the
former, we are made to acknowledge the latter. Besides being the more accurate translation, there
is a special sweetness and tenderness in the words, "who daily bears our burden." We have trusted
in the Lord as our Sin-Bearer, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (1
Pet. 2:24). We have proved His risen power in lifting the burden of guilt from our heavy-laden
souls; but do we realize that He wants us to trust Him as simply and prove Him as fully to be our
Burden-Bearer?

"Who daily bears our burdens." This is a ministry of love that is constantly going on and is
therefore open to our continual enjoyment. The Lord does not wait until our burden becomes so
heavy that we fall beneath its weight; He feels all the little weights of worry as they accumulate
upon our minds. The difficulties and anxieties that are interlaced with each day’s routine make up
the burden of the day; it is this that Jesus bears. Would it not sweeten life if we were more mindful
of this? He not only knows, but feels, how unfit we are to carry the cares of this life, for He is
"touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. 4:15). Therefore, in the power of divine
compassion which not only sympathizes but helps, He stoops to take the weight of all our interests
upon His shoulders.

He daily bears our burden, and yet He bids us cast our burden upon Him. Why? Because we are
no better off having a Burden-Bearer walking by our side if we hug a bundle of worry to our
breasts. "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you" (Psa. 55:22). Here is a divine
precept linked to a very precious promise. However, we must be careful not to set aside such
precepts and promises as applying only to circumstances of dire distress. How much we shall lose
if we shelve in our memories such a promise as this, only to make use of it in cases of emergency!
Our great Burden-Bearer would have us roll upon Him all the little things that perplex or ruffle
us, and mar our enjoyment of His peace. What a privilege it is to welcome our Lord Jesus into all
the lights and shadows of our everyday life! If we avail ourselves of this privilege, we shall
become blessedly conscious of the fact that He "daily bears our burden." Our eyes will be opened
to see many tokens of His lovingkindness which we should not otherwise have noticed, and the
thorny paths of life will blossom with answers to prayer. May we allow Him to lead us into this
joy.

(From Help and Food, Vol. 28.)

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!

She asked to be made like her Saviour;
He took her right then at her word,
And sent her a heart-crushing burden
Till the depths of her soul were stirred.

She asked for a faith strong, yet simple;
He permitted the dark clouds to come,
And she staggered by faith through the darkness
For the storm had quite obscured the sun.

She prayed to be filled with a passion
Of love for lost souls and for God;
And again in response to her longings
She sank ‘neath the chastening rod.

She wanted a place in His vineyard;
He took her away from her home,
And placed her among hardened sinners
Where she_humanly_stood all alone.

She saw she must give up her ambitions
Which had been her "air castles" for years;
But as she knelt in consecration
She whispered, "Amen," through her tears.

She wanted a meek, lowly spirit;
The work He gave answered that cry,
Till some who had once been companions,
With a pitying smile, passed her by.

She asked to lean hard on Her Saviour;
He took human props quite away,
Till no earthly friend could give comfort,
And she could do nothing but pray.

I saw her go out in the vineyard
To harvest the ripening grain;
Her eyes were still moistened with weeping,
Her heart was yet throbbing with pain.

But many a heart that was broken,
And many a wrecked, blighted life,
Was made to thank God for her coming,

And rejoiced in the midst of the strife.

She had prayed to be made like the Saviour,
And the burdens He gave her to bear
Had been but the great Sculptor’s teaching
To help answer her earnest prayer.

"All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13).

It is a blessed thing to know that we "have to do" with God (Heb. 4:13). If we are seeking
happiness, where shall we find it, except in God? He is not only the source of our blessing, but
the blessing itself.

Once we really come to know God, we will know Him as love (1 John 4:8). Then, knowing that
everything comes to us from Him_no matter what the circumstances_we interpret all by His
love. I may be called on to pass through pain and sorrow and trial as part of His discipline; but
everything that comes from God comes from a source and spring in which I have confidence. I
look, through the circumstances, to Him, and nothing can separate me from His love.

Where God is but little known, and where there is not therefore confidence in His love, there will
be murmuring and rebellion at circumstances. In such a case, the sense of having to do with God
will cause more fear than gladness.

Is it not true that we often stop, practically, at the circumstances in which we find ourselves placed
and consider only our feelings and judgment about them? This is a proof that our souls are not
living in the fullness of communion with God. That with which we should be occupied is, not the
circumstances, but what God intends by them.

There may be some secret evil working in my heart of which I am as yet unaware. Then God
sends some circumstance that discovers to me the evil in order that it may be put away. Is not this
a blessing? The circumstance does not create the evil which it excites; it only acts upon what it
finds to be in my heart and makes it manifest. The evil being discovered, circumstances are all
forgotten; God’s end alone is seen.

If there are circumstances that try and perplex our hearts, let us ask the question, "What is God
up to with me?" The moment the soul finds itself in communion with God about the circumstances,
all is well.

(From Collected Writings, Vol. 16.)

His grace is sufficient, whatever the pathway,
His strength in thy weakness shall perfected be;
So great is His love it never can weary
Of meeting thy need and of caring for thee.

His grace is sufficient, thou ne’er canst exhaust it,
Be strong in that grace which floweth to thee,
Draw largely, continually, out from His fullness,
He still is sufficient, He careth for thee.

Thou’rt nothing but weakness, His arms are around thee,
Not a thing canst thou do, but simply lie still,
And learn in the pathway of simple dependence,
A song of thanksgiving, since this is God’s will.

Then cling in thy weakness for He is beside thee,
Upholding, supporting, sustaining thee still;
And know that the Father is only just working
To mold thee and fashion thee unto His will.

Thy weakness He’ll use to display His own glory,
Resurrection strength then shall perfected be;
And thus thou shalt prove through the wilderness journey,
His grace shall be always sufficient for thee.

For nearly a year I kept the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. The cocoon is very peculiar
in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the
transformed insect forces its way. The empty cocoon is as entire as when it was occupied, with
no rupture of the interlacing fibers occurring during exit of the moth. The great disproportion
between the exit diameter and the size of the emerging moth makes one wonder how the exit is
ever accomplished at all; it never is without great labor and difficulty. It is supposed that the
pressure to which the moth’s body is subjected in passing through the narrow opening is a
provision of the Creator for forcing the juices into vessels of the wings, these being less developed
at the time of emergence from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.

I happened to witness the first efforts of my imprisoned moth to escape from its long confinement.
Nearly an entire morning, from time to time, I watched it patiently striving and struggling to get
out. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted.
Acting as though I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, I resolved to give it a
helping hand. With the points of my scissors, I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just
a very little easier. Immediately, and with perfect ease, out came my moth, dragging a shrunken
body and little shriveled wings. But in vain did I watch to see that marvelous progress of
expansion in which the wings silently and swiftly develop before one’s eyes. I longed to see the
exquisite spots and various colors which were all there in miniature assume their proper size. I
desired to see this creature_in truth one of the loveliest of its kind_appear in all its beauty.

But I looked in vain. My false tenderness had proved its ruin. It was never anything but a stunted
abortion, crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying through the
air on rainbow wings.

I have often recalled the lesson I learned that day. It has helped me to understand what the
Germans call "the hardness of God’s love." I have thought of it often when watching, with pitiful
eyes, those who were struggling with sorrows, suffering, or distress. It has seemed to me that I
was more merciful than God. If left up to me, I would have eagerly cut short the discipline and
given deliverance. Short-sighted fool! How do I know whether one of these pains and groans can
be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love of God, which seeks the perfection of its object, does not
weakly shrink from present transient suffering. Our Father’s love is too true to be weak. Because
He loves His children, He chastens them, that they may be "partakers of His holiness" (Heb.
12:10). As Christ Himself was "made perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10), the sons of God
are trained up to obedience, and must be brought to glory "through much tribulation" (Acts
14:22).

(Shortened from the tract, "The Burden Bearer," available from Moments With The Book, Box
322, Bedford, PA 15522.)