The Bird and the Burden

The Bird and the Burden
May 23, 2011

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.30
"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matt 11:28-30 (NASB)

It’s been a wonderful “Lord’s Day” today. However…the last few weeks have been rough around here. We live in the area of NE Tennessee where an F3 category tornado roared through a couple of weeks ago leaving a swath of destroyed houses, property, and loss of life. It was devastating for many people. For whatever His reasons, God protected our home and property and I am grateful. As we’ve driven around and heard story after story, it made me think I should never complain again…about anything. Images of people sifting through the rubble of broken hearts and lives will be forever etched in my memory. But, this morning was different. And, that difference came in the form of a little bird.

It’s funny, isn’t it; the things God chooses and uses to speak to our hearts sometimes? But, if He can create dust and then take it, breathe life into and form it to make man; well…He can do anything He wants. And He did that for me this morning.

I was driving along on my way to church; praying and humming a praise song. It was one of our NE Tennessee beautiful Spring mornings. If you live here, you know exactly what I mean. It’s one of those Spring mornings where Spring is about to spring right into summer without taking a breath. As I went through ‘The Crossroads’, suddenly a little black bird flew right in front of my car. It was carrying a rather large stick. In fact, this stick was as long as it was and, I couldn’t exactly tell if it was being carried by its beak or claws, but whichever it was, it was held pointing backwards at a rather awkward angle, and the little bird was really struggling to rise higher. However, it flapped its wings wildly and ever-so-slowly, it began to rise. There were no other cars in the intersection and I slowed down to a crawl just transfixed with this scene. And, as I watched the little bird’s struggle, I wondered, “why doesn’t it just drop the stick?” But, it didn’t. It held tightly to its burden and persevered, and finally, began to soar upwards.

What struck me in that whole picture was how much that applies to my own life. We have a heartbreaking family situation that has been a burden to our hearts for many years. There have been times I have cried out to the Lord in utter desperation and despair. Other times, I have wondered if my prayers and tears are making a difference; if it’s even worth it to keep bringing this burden before the Lord.

What the Lord also reminded me this morning is that He cares for every sparrow. Surely, if He cares so deeply for a little bird; He cares so much more for me. He knows what I am going through. He understands my burden because He is walking right next to me, helping me to bear it when it threatens to overwhelm me. And, just as that little bird, I can soar towards the heavens where Ephesians tells me I am seated at the right hand of the throne of God in Jesus Christ. But, I can only soar; rise above the trials life throws at me IF I appropriate what God’s Word tells me He has made available to me.

We must remember that Jesus was and is our faithful and merciful High Priest and that He has known every trial and temptation of man. I’m still waiting for someone to tell me they’ve experienced all that Jesus did and survived. We just can’t do it. God didn’t intend for us to. But, His intention for His own beloved Son was different than His intention for us. His plan for Jesus is hard for us to fathom. I also have yet to meet someone who sacrificed a child to save the life of a whole creation's worth of people! God meant for His Son to die. He willingly sacrificed Him; shed the drops of blood He Himself created so that my blood-requiring debt would be paid. He did all that for me, but, Jesus Himself NEVER promised that He was isolating us from the world. In contrast, He told us that He was leaving us in the world so that we could be a light that shines from within, illuminating the darkness of the forces of evil so that we could help to grow His kingdom. And, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on whether you are a ‘glass half-full or glass half-empty’ kind of person, that means that we live in and suffer the effects of living in a fallen world. And, one of those effects is realized in the trials of life that result in the burdens we carry.

So, what burden are you bearing today, dear one? In Matthew, Jesus says very simply, “Come to Me”. Have you done that? “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me”. Are you spending time in His Word and in prayer, seeking His face; His help in the burden you bear?

Jesus can say that His burden is easy and His yoke is light, but, that’s only when we bring it to Him and find the rest therein that only He can offer. Jesus alone can be our ‘burden-bearer’. With Him helping to shoulder the load, the burden becomes light enough that we can carry it.

Paul well understood the responsibility and hardship of burdens. Who among us can say we’ve been beaten; once with rods; whipped, shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead as well as having the burden of responsibility for many churches? Not only that, his had physical infirmities, and knew opposition, rejection and abandonment even by those he loved. Even so, he was able to write these encouraging words:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb 12:1-4 (NASB)
No matter how heavy your burden is, He can help you carry it. But, you must let Him. He will not take it from you. You must give it. And, no matter what it is, remember the example of the Lord, and the saints who have gone before you, many of whom lost their lives in terrible ways to bring to us the very words that tell us we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”( Heb 4:16)