You are Carrying Too Much

One of the things I became impressed with about my wife during the early days of our marriage was her ability to pack up for a week long trip in one suitcase.  Now, things have changed.  On a recent weekend, a two night stay in Saint Louis found our van bursting at the seams, with little space for much else.  A family trip now takes more than half a dozen trips from the house to the van to pack.  Sometimes, I feel like we are carrying everything.  You can almost hear the shocks and struts groaning beneath the weight of our belongings that are being carried.  Having three small children will do that to you.  With the worries and cares of this world resting squarely upon our shoulders, much like the shocks and struts of that van, we groan beneath its weight.  One of the most valuable lessons that I learned while unpacking the van at the end of the trip was the discovery of unnecessary items.  I found items that we did not even need.  Do you know why your burdens are more than you can bear?  Because you are carrying something God did not ask you to carry.  I Peter 5:7– “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you”.  How soon we forget that the burdens that we carry are not for us to carry but to place at the feet of God.  He did not give us burdens to carry, He gave us burdens so that we can learn to trust Him to carry it for us.  Sometimes we suffer the same symptoms as Martha in Luke 10:38-42.  She along with her sister had Jesus and His disciples in her home.  She was so busy scurrying and tending to the needs of her disciples that she forgot one of the most important and needful things.  Her sister on the other hand was sitting along with the disciples hanging to every word of Jesus.  How similar is that to so many busy Christians.  We get so caught up in our services to the King ready to do whatever necessary and seeking to impact others for the cause of Christ, that we forget something so important. Sometimes the burdens of our service begin to slowly weigh us down.  Should the burdens, worries, and anxieties build up, it could do so to the point that we will reach the danger of burnout.  When that point is reached, we will be rendered ineffective. Cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you.  Even our lives of prayer should enable us to lay our burdens at the feet of God.  Philippians 4:6 – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;”.  Why worry?  We have no need to worry.  The world is filled with worries isn’t it?  We worry about sickness, death, hurts, relationships, finances, etc.  Yet being surrounded by all that, we don’t have to worry.  Remember the first part of Philippians 4:6 tells us to be anxious for NOTHING.  Worries bog us down.  It robs us of happiness.  It robs us of sleep.  It robs us of strength.  It robs us of faith.  Sometimes our worries are mere molehills made into mountains.  Our worries make problems bigger than they really are.  No matter what you are worried about, you are carrying too much.  You do not have to carry it.  Give it to God.  Trust Him.  Let Him take care of them for you.  Remember, God is bigger than any mountain we can face.  He created the mountains.  He can move them.  A preacher once made a worry jar.  For every problem that began to worry him he would write down those worries on a piece of paper and place them in the jar.  Every Tuesday he would go through the jar and deal only with the problems on that day.  To his surprise, he discovered that many of the problems he faced had already resolved themselves.  The lilies of the fields and the sparrows of the air are well cared for in the omniscient Creator.  With that great truth the realization that you are not alone should come.  Much like His eye is on the sparrow, His eye is also on you and He cares for you.