PSALM 55:22 “CAST THY BURDEN UPON THE LORD”
A) This is a world of burden-bearing ... Sorrow and trouble come to all .......
* They’re not respecters of persons! * The rich have their share of trouble as well as the poor!
* Job 5:7 “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”
* Job 14:1 “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”
* Jer. 8:15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble.”
B) Some have to carry heavier burdens than others!
* Some seem handicapped and frustrated at every turn of the road.
* Some have little conception of the hidden burdens that others are carrying.
* Many a breaking heart is hidden by a smiling face … Often the deepest and the heaviest burdens
that men and women carry are those not seen with the naked eye!
(1) WHAT KIND OF BURDENS DO PEOPLE CARRY?
A) There are burdens that have to do with the home!
* To most of us, home is sweet; but not to everyone.
* In many homes there are poverty, sickness, sorrow and disruption.
* There is the burden of unsaved children, or of a mother or father or husband or wife.
B) There are burdens that have to do with business responsibilities!
* Maybe where you work the people seem to be so wicked, so anti-God, so anti-Christ.
* All you hear all the day long is one filthy joke or word after another.
* People need to hear a word of encouragement on Sundays after fighting the devil all week!
C) There are burdens in connection with the Lord’s work!
* Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:28 “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me
daily, the care of all the churches.”
* Sometimes I wonder how we are going to take care of all the financial obligations of our church.
* I wonder how I can help backslidden people who are so far away from God, and they don’t care.
D) There are burdens that have to do with our friends!
* Our enemies don’t need to wear a sign saying, “I’m your enemy!” * We know who they are.
* It wasn’t an enemy that hated David, it was a friend – Psa. 55:12-14 …….
* We don’t make very many intimate friends in a lifetime, so the ones we have, we had better treat
right … In old age, intimate friends are hard to come by.
E) Then there are physical burdens! * Paul said in 2 Cor. 12:7 …….
* “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure.”
* Some have been sick for a long time … They wonder how much longer they can take it!
* Oh, all the physical burdens in our church!
F) There are also temperamental burdens, and sometimes these are the hardest to bear: Fear,
anxiety, worry, depression and even despair!
* Most of us have to work on these burdens all the time.
* There is the burden of the loss of a loved one: husband, wife, child or parent.
* You don’t know how you’re going to make it through this time.
G) What about the burden of disappointment?
* You didn’t get that new job, that new car, that new house.
* Girls are disappointed they didn’t get that special boyfriend.
H) Most girls think they are standing at the Last Chance Station!
* Let the ugliest boy come by and wink at them, and they fall all over themselves.
* Listen now … God has just the right person waiting for you.
* Young man, you may be disappointed that you didn’t get her as your girlfriend.
* Thank God you didn’t, if she wasn’t the one God had chosen for you.
(2) THINGS WE SHOULD NOT DO BECAUSE OF OUR BURDENS!
A) One: We’re not to doubt God! * Look at what David said in v.1 …….
* How easy it is for us to doubt when trouble comes upon us.
* But doubting God does not give us relief from our burdens. * 1 Tim. 2:8 “I will therefore that
men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
B) Two: We’re not to murmur and complain – v.2!
* The Bible has quite a bit to say about murmuring, but little is being said against it today.
* The heart of the word complain means “a blow against God.”
* Phil. 2:14 “Do all things without murmurings and disputings:”
* 1 Cor. 10:10 “ Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of …”
C) Why is complaining so vicious in content today? Why is it such a blow against God?
* First, because complaining is unmanly. * Lam. 3:39 “Wherefore doth a living man complain,”
* 1 Cor. 16:13 “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
* Here’s what Paul is saying … You are God’s creation … Grumbling and griping are unmanly.
* You are a man, an heir of salvation, saved by grace through faith … You’re God’s workmanship,
created in His image … And grumbling does not become your manliness.
D) Second: There is something satanic about grumbling! * Why do I say that?
* Because of Heb. 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
E) It is totally impossible to have a revival at any church where grumbling is prevalent!
* Who am I to put the Almighty God under cross-examination?
* Am I in a better position than He to judge what is and is not good for me?
* How far can I see into the future? * Who am I to strike out against God?
F) Listen … One disfigures his manhood when he whines and whimpers!
* Even in the torment and crucifixion, Jesus never allowed that to happen to Him.
* 1 Peter 2:23 says, “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened
not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”
* No wonder Pilate said, “Behold the man!” * COMPLAINING IS UNMANLY.
* God help me not to be a complainer because I want to be a man like Jesus.
G) Third: Complaining is also a sign of ingratitude! * Oh, how easily we forget God’s blessings!
* One day God blesses us; the next day we forget all about those blessings.
* A politician met an old friend on the street and said, “I sure hope you’re going to vote for me.”
* The friend said, “No!” * The politician asked, “But was not it me who got your daughter a job
when she graduated from high school?”
* “Wasn’t it me who helped you pay your hospital bill? So why don’t you vote for me?”
* The friend replied, “Because you haven’t done anything for me recently.”
H) Unfortunately, a lot of Christians are like that politician’s friend!
* We forget God’s blessings so quickly! * Psa. 103:2 exhorts, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits.” * “All his benefits” includes all His blessings!
* All ingratitude is unlovely, but especially unlovely in Christians.
* There is no relief from our burdens in complaining and self-pity.
I) Three: We’re not to despair in the midst of our burden! * Despair will not lift one burden.
* David was in the depths of despair when he said in Psa. 55:4-5 …….
* A desire to escape the burden will not help us in our burden-bearing.
* David said in v.6-7 ……. * Have you ever felt like that?
J) Have you ever looked out the window and watched the little birds and said …….
* “Oh, if I had wings like those little birds, I could fly away into the wilderness and get away
from everybody and everything?”
* There is one thing wrong with that … You don’t have wings.
* So you might as well face it … You cannot escape, and there is no relief from a burden by just
wishing you could fly away from it.
(3) WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH OUR BURDENS?
A) We’re told to do three things with our burdens – v.22!
* One: Accept the burden from the Lord! * The Hebrew word burden literally means “that which
he hath given thee,” or it can mean “gift.”
B) Did you ever think of burdens as a trust from God or as a gift from God?
* That trial, that disappointment, that loss, is that God’s doing?
* Oh yes, dear child of God, He has permitted it … He has trusted you with it for a very wise and
loving purpose.
C) If something comes from the devil, it only comes with the Lord’s full permission!
* He allowed it; therefore, accept it from His hands.
* The devil cannot do anything to us unless he gets a permit … That should make you feel better.
* Where is that found in the Bible? * Job 1:8-12 …….
D) Job was a wealthy man, but he lost everything … All of his possessions and his children!
* It would be terrible if someone came to my door and said, “Brother Bo, you have lost one of your
children.” * But Job lost all of his, and all of his wealth in one grand swoop.
* Yet he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
E) But here is the key: Job 42:5-6 …….
* “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
* No matter how much we have heard of God, our burdens make us see Him in a way that nothing
else can. * In Psalm 55:19, David said …….
F) How slack we get sometimes, and how easily we forget Him and lift up ourselves when things
go smoothly and there are no changes, no problems!
* Thank God for the changes and the problems because they help us see ourselves and God in a
better way. * Your burden, whatever it is, will you accept it from the Lord?
* Will you take it from His dear hand as a way for you to know Him better?
G) Two: Let the Lord carry the burden for you!
* Since the burden is too heavy for you, give it to the Lord to carry.
* The word cast literally means “to fling or hurl.” * It requires and denotes action and effort.
* “Fling” that burden upon the Lord … “Cast” that burden upon the Lord!
* Or as they say in the south, “Chunk” that burden upon the Lord!
H) The Bible teaches that the Lord is the great Burden-bearer – Isa. 53:4 …….
* “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:”
* His gracious words to the saints are in 1 Pet. 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he …”
* How wonderful to know that Jesus cares!
I) Three: Leave the burden with the Lord!
* In our weakness we may prove His strength and the all-sufficiency of His grace.
* Learn this lesson: “We can’t, but He can!”
J) Paul tells us that he had a heavy burden – 2 Cor. 12:7-10 …….
* He tells us from whom it came, why God permitted it, how he prayed for it to be removed, and
what God said to him!
* Your burden, whatever it is, will you cast it upon the Lord?
* It’s too heavy for you, so will you let Him carry it?
K) Once we have cast our burdens upon the Lord, He assumes full responsibility for the burdens
for us, and He promises to sustain us and to uphold us!
* How wonderful this is … But He shall sustain thee and more …….
* “He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved … NEVER!”
* I like the old song that says, “Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary … Burdens are
lifted at Calvary; Jesus is very near.”
(4) IN CLOSING: WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH YOUR BURDEN TONIGHT?
A) I’m asking every Christian who hears me now: Whatever your burden is, will you cast it on
the Lord?
* Find the altar and unload it … It’s too heavy for you, so let the Lord carry the weight of it.
* I would say to the unsaved: Jesus carried that burden of sin to the cross for you.
* All you have to do is claim your pardon tonight and ask Him to forgive you.
* Come to the altar and unload that burden of un-forgiven sin and ask Jesus to save you, and I
promise you, He will … Be relieved of that burden once and for all.
B) Cast your burden upon the Lord … Let Him carry the load … It’s too heavy for you!
* Take the Lord at His word, believe that He meant what He said; then cast your burdens upon
Him, knowing that He loves you and will lift that load.
* What a wonderful verse of instruction the Lord has given us …….
* “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to
be moved.”
