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)
Heavenly Father, 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 resenting, ignoring, minimizing them. And to know—as this Scripture affirms, that you bear our burdens on a daily basis, frees us from our posing and pretending. Indeed, you are the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
Father, some of us are overwhelmed with marriage, parenting, and family burdens. Helplessness isn’t bad, if it’ll 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.
Some of us are weighed down by the ever-triggering power of unhealed wounds, the crippling tonnage of bitterness and resentment, or the exhausting demands of caring for aging parents, addicted friends, or unexpected transitions. Thank you for claiming these burdens too, 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 terror-madness of our world. Lift these burdens from our hearts, as you remind us that the throne of heaven is fully occupied (Rev. 4); and 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 weight of our guilt, because Jesus has exhausted it; and free us when we surrender, yet again, to the power 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, at all. 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.