Cast + Sustain

Last fall I had some health problems which needed an ultrasound in order to rule out any more serious issues and it caused me anxiety like I’ve never known. I couldn’t eat properly and sleep eluded me. Recently, a good friend has had her own apprehensive wait for test results, another has an adopted daughter with eating complications due to being exposed to drugs in the womb, and another has become the full-time caregiver to her mother-in-law battling cancer, just to mention a few burdens my friends are carrying.

We are in the thick of it of it. We have hit the trenches of middle age. The honeymoons are over. The first house has been bought. Baby showers have been thrown and children born. Now we’re caring for kids with learning disabilities and supporting parents with ailing health while faced with the frailty of our own bodies and emotional limits.

One can feel stretched thin. Like it’s too much sometimes.

But when reading Psalm 55 the other day I came across verse 22:

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”

Cast.

That’s my job. The action I’m supposed to take. Roll it, throw it, hurl that burden off my shoulders and onto Jesus’ shoulders instead. I might have to do it everyday or every minute. I might need a friend to help me when I’m weak. But keep shoving that heavy weight off until it’s gone.

Sustain.

That’s God’s job. I don’t have to try to sustain myself. When David wrote Psalm 55 he spoke of his circumstances (you can read it here). He was restless and in turmoil. An enemy’s words were bringing down disaster and he felt the pressure of the wicked all around him. Terrors of death, fear, and trembling gripped him. Yet he reminded himself–and us–of this simple truth: cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.

To be sustained doesn’t mean the circumstances will change. But instead you will be able to bear the weight, or be supported. The dictionary says that it means to “endure without giving way.”

And so friends, let’s roll those burdens off of our shoulders.

He will do the sustaining.