Do you feel like you’re bearing a heavy burden, barely able to make it through the day before collapsing exhausted into bed only to wake up feeling no more rested than you did before you slept?
Been there, doing that. Partially thanks to the fact that Jude, our youngest, has decided that 5AM is the time to wake up most mornings and partially due to juggling all the realities of leadership, ministry, finances, marriage, parenting, and the seemingly endless list of things that make up life, I’ve found myself regularly ending my days exhausted and thoroughly drained.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the life we live. I love the ministry our family gets to do and the thrill of trusting God to provide what we need. But a couple days ago I was sitting on the couch after the boys were (finally) both asleep, staring at the wall and wondering if the exhaustion is due to me doing something wrong or if it’s simply a fact of our current season of life.
Not long later – the next morning perhaps – I read these words in Isaiah:
Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
The images that are carried about are burdensome,
a burden for the weary.
They stoop and bow down together
unable to rescue the burden,
they themselves go off into captivity.
“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob,
all the remnant of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,
and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:1-4
Carrying
The prophet Isaiah gives us a sharply ironic picture of people whose gods are idols, mockingly pointing out the fact that they literally have to carry their gods, stooping beneath the weight of what they worship.
While we may be far too “sophisticated” to craft literal idols out of wood or stone, we are equally as efficient as people in Isaiah’s day at crafting idols for ourselves in the modern age. And those idol’s weight falls equally heavily on the shoulders of our souls, demanding that we carry them everywhere we go.
If you’re feeling burdened and heavy, odds are there’s an idol you’re carrying with you. Maybe it’s being an amazing parent whose kids always behave. Maybe it’s getting married. Maybe it’s fulfilling the American dream and moving from your tiny apartment into a house that you own. Or maybe it’s the admirable idol of paying off all your student loan debt in record time. All good in and of themselves, but as idols they weigh far more than we can carry.
You weren’t meant to create gods, goals, and world-changing visions that you have to carry. Hell, you weren’t meant to even carry yourself. No wonder we’re so stressed out and worn down.
Carried
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you
Do you see the contrast between those who pursue idols and those whose God is the living God? Where idols are burdens we must carry, the living God carries those who he has created. From birth to old age he is the one who bears the weight and sustains those he loves.
Isn’t it good news that you don’t have to bear the weight of the gods and goals in your life? You can set aside the burdens of all the ideals and dreams that have weighed on you and simply lean back into the loving arms of the one who created you.
To do so requires humility, but that humility will lead you into freedom from so much of the stress, anxiety, and fear that surrounds us in this world.
Settle in
What weight do you need to set aside today? How will you settle into the reality that the God who made you will carry, sustain, and rescue you?
For me it’s looked like setting aside about 10 minutes at the start of each day before I sit down to work to meditate on the reality that I am carried, not carrying. It means intentionally releasing an expectations that I have on myself and those around me, resolving to trust the God who has upheld me since my birth.
I’m still having to get up at 5:30AM most mornings and going to bed tired, but as I’ve practiced letting myself be carried that tiredness has shifted from being total to primarily being physical, and I go to sleep most nights in peace and satisfaction. That’s a good place to be.
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