Earth Is Hard, Pick Your Hard -I

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

 …….

 Are we weak and heavy-laden,

  Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Saviour, still our refuge—

  Take it to the Lord in prayer

(you can read or listen to the poem/hymn Here! )

 Joseph Scriven’s adult life was marked with tragedy. First, he had to give up a promising military career due to ill health. Then he lost his fiancée in a drowning accident. To deal with his sorrow, he sailed away to a distant land to seek a fresh start. There he fell in love again but as fate would have it, he lost his second fiancée to pneumonia. Thereafter, devoted himself to helping the destitute around him. He became known as “the man who saws wood for poor widows and sick people who are unable to pay”.  It was during this time of sad memories and humble service that he wrote this poem to encourage his ailing mother back home. After his death, the poem was taken up as a hymn. 

By the way, did you know that Paul exhorted Christians to sing to each other as a way of encouragement? (Not sure though, that we’d enjoy some peoples’ singing.) If you are one of the modern types that don’t do well with hymns, there is a Sunday-school with a similar theme: 

Cast your burdens unto Jesus, for He cares for you.

Cast your burdens unto Jesus, for He cares for you.

 Higher higher, higher higher higher higher, higher higher,

Lift Jesus higher. Cast Your Burdens

 Are we heavy laden? Very likely so.

Many lives have been turned upside down. Failed businesses, job losses, growing debts, sudden deaths of loved ones, spiraling crime and shocking tragedies within families have become the constant din in our ears. On top of this some have a lingering sense of ill foreboding that some big, bad event is lurking somewhere in the horizon.

Does God really care?

Sometimes it does seem like He doesn’t, or does He? Let’s explore in scripture. A little sentence in one of King David’s prayer-songs points us in the general direction. 

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,

Who daily bears our burdens. Psalm 68.19 

Like Joseph Scriven, David had a tough life. As a shepherd-boy he faced lonely nights and the perennial threat of hungry predators in the unforgiving Arabian deserts (1 Samuel 17:34-35). And as a teenager he faced down Goliath who he defeated in a battle that saved his country-men from a great national crisis (1 Samuel 17).  All was great until the women spoilt the victory parade by singing, 

“Saul has slain his thousands,
    and David his tens of thousands.” 

And thereafter, 

(King) Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 1 Samuel 18:7-9 

Women, there is a lesson here for you but pray, why are you like this?  🤷🏻‍♂️  

This refrain along with his subsequent military successes shaped the direction of the next phase of his life. It was full intense troubles for the next 12-15 years and yet this man wrote and sung, 

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior who daily bears our burdens.

That God carries our burdens is a recurring theme throughout scripture. However, Jesus took it a little further.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 

It is possible that Jesus was looking at yoked oxen when he said this. I am not sure that some of you ‘town-types’ will understand what a yoke is, so let me explain a little. A yoke was a fairly heavy, wooden beam that was fastened over the necks of animals (bulls) and attached to a plough or cart that they were to pull.  

Thus, Jesus was effectively giving us the method by which we could relieve ourselves of the burdens brought about by our stressors. Let’s break it down. 

1.    Come to me -this is a no-brainer. If we are to receive anything from God, we must first approach Him. We will dwell a little more on how we come to Him but as a start, we must come to Him in faith.

….it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11.6

Faith is simply believing that God will do what He has promised to do. This is not always easy because we can neither see God, nor commit Him to a cause nor make Him sign along the dotted line of a performance contract. 

2.    Take my yoke/burden upon you (and give me yours)- Jesus says to transfer your burden to Him and He will transfer His burden to you! I find this a strange way to relieve a burden but then, aren’t almost all of God’s solutions strange to us? Either way He assures us that;

• He is humble and gentle in spirit- probably as opposed to the harsh master behind the yoked oxen pushing them by way of lashes and shouts to work as hard and as much as possible.
• His burden is light, and His yoke is easy- He promises that He has a much lighter load.

What is not said but is nevertheless implied is this: regardless of where we stand, we will always be carrying a load. We therefore have a choice. We could go on carrying our heavy load or we could transfer our load to Christ and take His which is lighter. As some like to say, 

“Choose your ‘hard!”.