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Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Psalms 55:22
The story is told of a little boy whose favorite cat died. Wanting a proper burial for it, he took it out to the backyard and buried it under a tree. The interesting thing is, he left the tail of the cat, sticking up into the air. When I asked why he did that, he said, “I just want to check on it every day to find out if it’s OK.”
Now, that may sound like a rather silly story. However, don’t we sometimes do that with the problems that we face? The Bible tells us that we can cast all of our cares on Jesus. The Psalmist encourages us to give our burdens to God. Yet, like the boy in our story, we tend to want to check on those problems every once in a while.
We aren’t told to give part of our problems to God. We aren’t told to loan our problems to God. We’re told to give them to him. To give it all up. To trust him.
Time and again in the Bible, we are told stories of times when God’s people were up against a wall. They had a problem that they could not handle themselves. They’re only hope was to give it to God and He showed up!
Sometimes we may think our problems are too small. Sometimes we may blame ourselves for the situation we’re in and decide “you got yourself into this you need to get yourself out.” And when we are really honest with ourselves, sometimes we’re not real sure God can handle what we’re up against.
The NIV version of the Bible translates this verse like this, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalms 55:22 (NIV)
I like the word picture in that translation. Don’t lay your struggles gently or cautiously. Cast them! Throw them as you would a piece of garbage. Get rid of it. Give it to a God that can handle it.
Through faith in Jesus, we can trust our sovereign, loving, Heavenly Father to see us through every situation we encounter.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Psalms 91:5
Remember when we were young how we would be afraid of the dark? You’d hear a noise and be sure a monster was under your bed. As you grew older, you knew there wasn’t a monster under your bed. Your mind told you to go back to sleep, your body sent off all kinds of alarms. You may have even gotten up, turned on the lights and walked through the house just to be sure there wasn’t anything awry.
Darkness is, by nature, scary because darkness hides the unknown. Physically that may be a chair or toy on the floor, or an intruder. Spiritually the terrors of the night could be worry, fear or anxiety over relationships, work issues, or the condition of our society. What we don’t know can scare us the most at times. The Psalmist reminds us that we can rest assured that whatever lurks in the darkness has already been seen by a loving Father who protects us from things we don’t know and walks through the things that affect us.
The Psalmist also assures us that we will be protected by the arrows that fly in the daylight. Today, arrows have been perfected as to accuracy and distance. But when the Psalmist wrote this, the archer was fairly close to his intended victim.
For us, arrows can symbolize attacks that happen in broad daylight. The enemy can’t be seen in darkness, and he can’t shoot an arrow at you. But in the daylight that’s a different story! Arrows come from those you see and, perhaps, even know. These ‘arrows’ can be the criticism and rejection you endure from a close friend. They can be the accusations of those who disagree with you or your opinions. They can be the arrows of misunderstanding.
The Father’s promise is this. Whether the things attacking you are out of the darkness, meaning you didn’t have a clue they were there, or you saw the attacks coming, you can know this. He is aware of your situation. It doesn’t matter how you got where you are, He is there to see you through it. Faith conquers fear. Light conquers darkness. God’s protection covers all.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 