The Burden of the LORD

I was, for the first time, a counselor at Camp Woodmen this year, and the experience has fostered some truly incredible changes in my attitude and behavior in the weeks since. One of the many great lessons for me was encouragement - about which I have so much more to say at some point - but encouragement also indirectly led me to what I now write about. After serving as a counselor for 7 days and putting every ounce of energy I could muster into maintaining the best and highest quality experience for each of my campers, I had done a lot of encouraging and had really seen the incredible power of it! But by the end of that time, I had extrapolated an even greater principle, of which encouragement is just a sub-heading.

This year at camp, I had something of an epiphany: I realized that I had many important things to say that God has wanted me to say for a long time. In particular, I had important things to say to the people who mean the most to me. How much I loved them and how much I appreciate the things they've done for me. How one person's example of faith had impacted me. How much I missed someone, and how I have failed them by not telling them this when they needed to hear it, but also how I'm ready to do better. How I've wanted to tell them this all along and even seriously thought about saying it before, but simply let those moments pass by unacknowledged. I came to refer to this need to tell these people these things as "the burden of the LORD," and I've spent a lot of time meditating on the gravity of that phrase.


The idea, as succinctly as I have been able to put it, is this: whenever God gives you something useful to share with someone, you should say it. It may be words of encouragement or thanks or praise; it may be correcting someone who needs correction; it may be a story of something that happened in your life that speaks to an issue someone is having; it may be advice or wise counsel; it may be admitting a fault of your own for the good of a relationship in order to move forward; it may be sharing how God supplied your needs or worked in your life; it may be a good work that you have done by faith and the benefit that it brought to your life or someone else's; it may be a time when you stood up for something; it may be a time when you didn't stand up for something when you should have. Whatever the case, I found myself, as a counselor, very naturally doing something that was unnatural for me: I was telling people exactly what was in my heart if I had anything at all in mind that I knew would be profitable for them to hear.

Jeremiah 23:33-34
When one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, "What burdensome message do you have from the LORD?" Tell them, "You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the LORD, affirm it! I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says "The LORD's message is burdensome." I will punish both that person and his whole family.

There was at least one point at camp where I felt like I had a burdensome message to deliver - there was something that I knew I had to say, and it felt like it was going to be very difficult to do so. In my head, I referred to this message as "the burden of the LORD," just because I remembered that phrase being used the prophets and it seemed to fit how I was feeling! When I made the realization that there were many important things that I needed to say to particular people in my life, I started referring to these messages also as "the burden of the LORD."

Have you ever wanted to say something, but been nervous or uncomfortable or outright afraid to say it, and simply let the moment pass, even though it really needed to be said? What I have discovered is this: when there is the potential for great gain by taking action rather than letting anxiety reign over us, the joy and value of going ahead with the experience is of far greater worth than the fleeting comfort of not doing it. Whenever I feel "the burden of the LORD," no matter how reluctant or hesitant I may be about saying it, I know that a much greater reward comes from saying it, and it then becomes my duty before God to say it.

But, in light of the scripture above, I shouldn't call this a burden! Indeed, my own experience has shown me better: the burden of the LORD is no burden at all, but failing to share the burden of the LORD is a heavy burden. Feelings go unexpressed, old problems don't just fix themselves, and relationships are not as strong as they could be. Many people suffer under heavy burdens, not realizing that they have heaped this load on themselves. Our own refusal to carry God's burden becomes a burden to us when we reap the consequences, but God desires to set us free:

Isaiah 58:6-11
Is this not the fast I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?... Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, "Here I am." If you take away the yoke from among your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul... then the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought.

God does not weigh us down! The joy that has resulted from the numerous opportunities I have had in the last two weeks to deliver the burden of the LORD to my loved ones has proven this to me, but Jesus also said this very thing in a powerful way:

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

Consider the people that you love - family, friends, brothers and sisters in your congregation - and what things you might have left unsaid to them. Things that would encourage and uplift them. Things that would begin to heal old wounds. Things that would stir up the Holy Spirit in them and produce righteousness. Realize that this must be done out of love and that, depending on the situation, it may require a more sustained effort than just one conversation; but, to make any progress at all, you have to establish a dialogue. It may have seemed heavy to you before, but I hope you will see that God's way is easier.

Galatians 6:2
Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Hebrews 12:1
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us.