Weighed Down

What started out as an easy task ended up with a couple of days of aching!

Psalm 81:1-16

Reference: “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. (‭Psalm‬ ‭81‬:‭6‬ NIV)

Explore: When I was working in radio, one of my colleagues accepted a challenge to help us raise money. He was willing to hold two buckets of water until the tally got to a certain amount.

To begin with the challenge didn’t seem too bad. He had worked as a tradesman in the past and so physical labour was not foreign to him.

But after a certain period of time the pressure on his hands and arms started to feel uncomfortable. Even though the weight in the buckets had not changed, they started to feel heavier.

The handles started to dig into his hands and his shoulders started to ache from the constant weight he was holding. What started out as an easy task ended up with a couple of days of aching!

Application: Our emotional burdens can often have the same affect on us as physical ones. They start off small but end up weighing us down and causing pain.

Unless we do something to cause change, the weight just keeps getting heavier and heavier.

Once my colleague put down the buckets, his arms felt as light as feathers. The change was dramatic, you could see it all over his body.

When it comes to emotional baggage we can just hope it goes away, but not do anything about it. There comes a time when we need to decide we don’t want to carry it any more and start to make some changes.

It’s easier said than done, but the long range change can be well worth it.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the change we need in our lives. May we be released from the burdens in our lives that hold us back and weigh us down. Amen.

What burdens do you have in your life?

burden, change, emotion, Psalm