Our Burden-Bearer

Psalm 145

There’s an old song, “My Old Kentucky Home”, written by Stephen Foster, with the lines “a few more days for to tote the weary load”. Many people find the burdens in their life exactly that, a weary load. Sometimes that load seems more than we can bear, crushing us down to the ground.  Try and struggle as hard as we might, we can’t get back on our feet. As we feebly lift our head from off the ground and look around, there is so often no one who wants to, or who can, help us.  However, as we read in our Psalm selection today, there is Someone who will uphold us when we fall, and raises us up when we are bowed down with a heavy load.

When the struggles in life become more than we can handle, there is Someone we can turn to, Yahweh, our Lord God.  Many times life was a struggle for David. Even after he became king, his way wasn’t an easy one. Yet David knew where to turn to.  From his own experience he could say that the Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down (vs. 14). Why would the God of the whole universe bother to help us with our problems and burdens? Throughout this psalm that David wrote, he gives us some answers.

First of all, God desires to lift us up because His greatness is unfathomable and beyond our understanding (vs. 3).  Yahweh is a great God, not some puny little local deity with limited power, as many of the false gods neighboring nations worshipped.  Those false gods could never help, but David knew Yahweh is great and powerful. He has done, and continues to do mighty acts throughout every generation (vs. 4).  When we allow God to work in our life, then our testimonies of deliverance can be added to this praise. God is full of splendor and majesty (vs. 5), and has done many wonderful and awesome works (vs. 5-6).  Doing wonderful acts is part of His character, and when we see Him working in our life, lifting our burdens, we can declare it aloud, as well.

God is a righteous God (vs. 7).  Everything He does is just, moral, and virtuous. He would never sit back and allow one of His Blood-bought children to be overwhelmed when they turn to Him for deliverance.  Goodness, compassion, and mercy are in His character (vs. 8-9). That is who He is. It is not just some trait that He has to struggle to show now and then.

God rules over an everlasting kingdom (vs. 13).  He rules over the whole universe, and to help His children is not a burden to Him.  He is the source of provision for all of our daily needs (vs. 15-16), and He will never run out of resources to help us.  He provides for our daily needs because of His love for us.

Yahweh is loving and righteous in all of His dealings with His children (vs. 17). When His children call upon Him for help, He is near to them (vs. 18-19). He is not some distant god that cannot be bothered.  He is a Father to us. There are some parents who don’t really want to be bothered by their children, and would rather they keep quiet in another room.  That is not the case with our God and Heavenly Father. He is near to us, and hears our cries when we need Him.

David listed from first-hand experience these many reasons why he knew that the Lord God would help lift him up when he was crushed down by heavy burdens.  When we are under a heavy burden, and fear we will fall, we can safely turn to the Lord God and accept His help. He will lift us up and be our great Burden-Bearer.