THE BURDEN OF THE LORD

Scripture:  Jeremiah 23:33  "What is the burden of the Lord?"

Jeremiah was called the "weeping prophet" because he was very sensitive and sympathetic by nature.  Yet, this meek man was chosen by God to deliver a strong message of judgment against sin.  Jeremiah was a man who received the burden from the Lord because he spent time with the Lord.  Those who heard his continual message of judgment could not handle his sobering words, so in mockery they posed the question, "What is the burden or heavy word from the Lord today?" 

Burdens only come with familiarity and information.  You can never understand someone's burden without being in their presence, listening to their words, and coming to know their needs.  You will have no burden for the people whom you have never met or whose needs you have never heard of.  Recently, we have come to share the burdens and to empathize with many people who have suffered losses in war and other tragedies.  As we have been made aware of their losses, our hearts have ached and our spirits have become heavy because of their tremendous burdens.  We have witnessed the endless hours and energy of those who have put their own lives in extreme jeopardy to protect us.  They have shed their blood, experienced some area of personal sacrifice, and some have even given their lives.

This is also how it works in God's kingdom.  When we go to God in prayer, we take our burdens to Him.  We unload all of our problems as the scriptures teach us to do because we know that God cares for us.  Yet too often, we do not make this a sharing relationship.  In the midst of our petitions and requests for our own needs, we fail to sit silently in God's presence until He makes His desires known to us.  Seldom, if ever, do we stop and ask God to share His burdens with us.  Our main interest is in ourselves, and many times we are far too busy with our own agendas to get a clear vision of God's burden.

If those about us were to ask us the same question that was asked of Jeremiah, "What is the burden of the Lord today," we would have no answers.  For God's burden is revealed only as we receive information, and He only shares that information with those who spend time in His presence.  True revelation of God's desires will be imparted only as we linger with Him and listen intently to His Words.  The closer we get to the Lord, the more He will share His heart and the more He will trust us with His concerns.  As God shares with us, we will begin to discern His will and the heart of His Spirit.  When we receive knowledge of Him and begin to know Him in His fullness we will then understand His burden.  When we begin to understand the burden of the Lord, it will demand sacrifice on our part and force us to be selfless and to take action to fulfill His will. +++