Watch, Wait, and Imitate

When the weight of this world burdens your heart to despair, where do you turn? 

Some turn to shopping, distracting themselves with momentary pleasure…until the bills roll in. Some turn to alcohol or drugs numbing the pain…until they find themselves trapped in a never ending cycle, always needing more. Some turn to sexual immorality… only to find that this too leads to even greater brokenness both in themselves and others.

Many seek temporary fixes they think will ease their troubles only to find those “fixes” have become a trap.

We must watch our heart. It can lead us down paths we never dreamed we would follow. 

In the dark, early morning hours, I often find myself awake with my mind mulling over weighty things in my heart. I toss and turn, and I pray. I’m still learning to surrender it all to God. I remind myself (because I often forget) that while I have no power over the many things I’m worried about, God has all the power necessary to work out those things that haunt my thoughts and weigh me down in the darkof the night. He loves me and cares about the things that concern me, so I lay it all at His feet.

Friends, instead of continuing to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, we can cast that care upon Jesus and experience His peace. He is the One who can bear our burdens while using them for our good. As Jesus grew into adulthood, he experienced the pain of humanity: hardship, sickness, betrayal, death of loved ones – even His own “untimely” death. He suffered all of this willingly for us. He understands our weakness and our sorrow. He stands by us faithfully even when we are unfaithful.

Satan would have us feeling defeated by the weight of this world. Jesus would have us take His yoke, walk with Him, and let Him bear the weight. I used to think that taking the yoke of Jesus meant sharing in His burden. No, it meansHe carries my burden as the lead ox in the yoke. I am trained by walking by His side. He is offering to walk by my side as my guide and my strength. Once I learned that farmers train a younger, weaker ox by yoking them with an older, stronger one, this example became powerfully humbling.

In Hebrews 12:1-4 the writer speaks of the endurance of Jesus, how He endured to the point of spilling His own blood – for the joy set before Him. He knew what He would be sacrificing and why. We are told to look to Him, watch what He did, and follow His example.

Years ago WWJD was a popular acronym. It was on jewelry, signs, and the lips of many. Though it may have been flippantly used to point of being irrelevant, it is still worth pondering in our own heart if we are to follow His example. What WOULD Jesus Do? What DID Jesus Do?

When trials came and people forsook him, when people needed help and He was tired from a long day of teaching and serving, when people He loved made harmful choices, and when He was wrongly accused and beaten, He experienced the devastation that sin had on the world He created. What did He do? He endured the hardship, He asked His Father to draw, keep, and unite those He loved (John 17), and He gave His very life as a sacrifice to save His own.

What an example! It seems impossible to follow, and on our own, it is. Without daily reminding ourselves, it is. But in those times when we are able to cast our cares at His feet and take on His yoke, oh, the peace that follows.

I have to ask myself, often, “What am I willing to sacrifice?” Do I sacrifice my will and submit to whatever God’s plan is for me and the ones I love, even when it looks nothing like my own? Do I sacrifice my time and help those in need even when I’m tired? Will I continue to forgive in spite of painful memories? Am I willing to give up my dreams and plans for the sake of the gospel?

These are hard questions and I admit that my answers are not always what they should be. My heart is naturally inclined to selfishness. It is prone to worry. It is prone to seeking out wrong paths of healing and comfort.

So what can you do when the weight of this world is more than you can bear? Watch. Watch your heart, watch God work while you wait, and look to the example that Jesus set before you, trying in His strength to follow Him. You can and should cast your cares on Him because He cares for you, and the peace of God will fall in the place where those burdens once rested (Phil 4:13).