“Share each other’s troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord’s command” (Galatians 6:2, TLB).
There is a time for everything, a season for this and a season for that. There is a time to bear a care in solitude, and a time to share a prayer with a friend. We need the wisdom to know when to shoulder responsibility, when to delegate, and when to cast it all upon Jesus – our incomparable Burden Bearer.
Sometimes I have to have a cry, then wash my face, and get on with it! I know I must bear the thing alone. Another day, when I was burdened beyond belief after watching a loved one suffer, a friend came to me and touched my hurt with tenderness, mending the raw edges of my helplessness. Such love brought a blessed buoyancy that helped more than I could tell. Someone cared enough to help make my burden bearable. Yes, there is a season for sorrow, a time to bear another’s burdens.
But there comes a time when only God’s shoulders are broad enough to carry the weight of my worry. Then crushing burdens become carried burdens. Yoked to Him, I can plow my lonely furrow, walk a straight path, cope with the intolerable, and figure out the impossible. Then, having been carried, I am sent on my way strengthened to help carry another. I need to pray:
Show me when to share, Lord – Commission me to carry, Lord. And teach me not to burden one of your special children, if I must bear my burden alone!
Suggested Reading: Galatians 6:1-10
PRAYER
Lord, thank You that you are our greatest burden-bearer! Give me wisdom to know when I need to rehearse my troubles to You alone or when I need to let others help me carry them. And then, when having been carried, help me to strengthen others. Amen.
