Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Goodbye, Chicago! Hello, New Jersey! It was time for our first major move as a young family. Our ministry was pretty consuming, even back then, so we looked for the most inexpensive moving help that we could find. We found a private moving company owned by a friend. Tom showed up with one other guy and they did a great job navigating our earthly possessions down this narrow apartment staircase. Some days later, we met them on the other end. The problem was that we were facing an even more challenging staircase to get to our new second-floor apartment. Probably the greatest challenge of all was our refrigerator. It was a heavy old bear - I mean, even to try to move it across the floor. But Tom said, "I'll take care of it." He proceeded to strap that refrigerator on his muscular back and carry it up that narrow staircase all by himself. All I could do was lamely yell, "Go, Tom, go!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When it's More Than You Can Carry."
If I had insisted on carrying that fridge, it would still be sitting on the sidewalk in front of that apartment. My friend carried on his back what I could never carry.
That is what Jesus wants to do for you, if you'll just let it go. God extends His awesome invitation in Psalm 55:22, our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." In 1 Peter 5:7, you're invited to "...cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." If we were to draw a picture of you and your burden right now, would you be all bent down, staggering beneath the weight of it all because you've been trying to carry it yourself? There's another person in the picture. It's Jesus, walking right beside you, whispering, "Let it go. Give it to Me."
You may have talked to the Lord about your burden but you've failed to trust Him with your burden. Like a car in need of repair, it isn't enough just to tell the mechanic about it. You have to leave it with him! Probably the biggest single reason we will not let go of our crushing problems and concerns is this: control. We insist on keeping it in our control. We're too stubborn or too afraid to roll it over onto Jesus' back. Stubborn because we want our way with it, no matter what. Afraid because we apparently don't trust what Jesus will do with it. Result: an emotional and spiritual hernia from carrying what you should never be carrying.
What will it take for the weight on you to be lifted? You'll have to reverse what you learned from "The Little Engine That Could" and say those liberating words, "I think I can't." That moment of surrender makes you desperate for what God and God alone can do. And desperation is the condition with which God can do the most.
You trade stress for peace when you choose to rest on the load-lifting promise of 2 Timothy 1:12: "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." God can be trusted. He proved that at the cross. It won't be your load that determines the outcome; it will be your Lord! Philippians 4:6-7 promises that when you leave your needs and anxieties with God, "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If you're not experiencing that peace in the midst of your burdens, then you're still carrying them.
I saw a man pick up and carry on his back a load that would have crushed me. I have seen my Lord do that over and over again in my life - when I finally took my stubborn hands off what I was carrying and totally trusted it to Him. You woke up carrying that load again today. Let it go. Let Jesus do with it what only He can do. And tonight, you can rest in peace because it's out of your hands and in His.