Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves. Psalm 68:19-20 (NIV)
Dear heavenly Father, what a promise you’ve made, what a hope we have, and what a God you are. Thank you being the kind of Father who bears our burdens—as opposed to ignoring, minimizing, or resenting them. And to know that you bear our burdens on a daily basis frees us to be honest with you about the things that tend to wear us down and wear us out. Indeed, you are the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
You are the God who saves us—not just from eternal separation from yourself, but also in the present realities of life. Father, some of us are overwhelmed with marriage, parenting, and family burdens. Helplessness isn’t bad, if it will drive us to you. Help us to want you and your glory, more than we want relief and a different story. Protect us from all counsel that might medicate our pain, but not identify the real issues.
Father, some of us are fearful, fretful—even rage-full over the political landscape of our country, the legislative shifts in our culture, and the nuclear madness of our world. Lift these burdens from our hearts, as you remind us that the throne of heaven is presently occupied (Rev. 4); that Jesus is currently the ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5); and that nothing and no one can alter or annul your plans (Isa. 14:27; Eccl. 3:14).
Father, forgive us when we take back the burden of our guilt, because Jesus has exhausted it; and free us when we surrender, yet again, to the burden of our shame, because Jesus has broken it.
Rescue us when we feign sovereignty and take on other people’s burdens you don’t intend us to carry. Give us grace, wisdom, and power to live and to love to your glory. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.
