Many years ago, in the months before we were married, my wife suffered through a particularly difficult season of the soul. At one point fear and anxiety were very nearly incapacitating for her, and we struggled to find the way out of the darkness, or even a way to hold on until the darkness passed.
While praying for her one day, the Lord led me to this verse: "Cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you." It was a moment for hope and I latched on to it, but I began to pray asking the Lord how a hurting soul "casts" their cares. The Lord gave me an idea.
Later that evening, when we were together at her apartment, I took my yet-to-be wife into her kitchen and stood her in the middle of the room facing her cabinets. I explained to her the verse the Lord had opened for me that morning, and as I expected she said, "Okay, but how do I do that?"
I went over to her silverware drawer and pulled it open. On the outside I placed a label I had made earlier, a label that read, "THE LORD." Then I asked her to write out her fears and the thoughts that were attacking her on small pieces of paper. When she was ready, I said, she should take each paper with her fears and toss them into the drawer, then shut the drawer and walk away. Then, I left her there in the kitchen to decide for herself what fears she would cast "into THE LORD," and when, and if she would commit to shutting the drawer.
It took time for Linda to decide to release her fears, but eventually she did. She wrote out the things that were plaguing her and stealing her joy. She threw them in the drawer and shut it, and every time they came back to mind, came back to hurt, she reminded herself they were "in THE LORD," and the only way they could come back into her life would be for her to physically take them from the drawer, retrieve them from "THE LORD." Neither the drawer nor the Lord would offer them back to her on their own.
Linda's journey out of the dark night of the soul began that evening in the kitchen. She continues to have a box where she throws in the natural what she has committed to God in the spiritual.
Here are six simple steps to releasing a spiritual burden to God, to casting our cares on him. Though I've laid them out as steps, the interval between them can be very brief, and in fact, they can happen almost at once. Or, they may each take time. Either way, these seem to have a presence whenever we unburden our hearts on Christ.
1. Identify the nature of the burden. Is this a burden for good, for guilt, or for growth? Is God allowing some difficult situation in order to demonstate to you and through you the excellence of His glory and the depth of his love? Is the burden a result of personal sin? Is the burden the result of someone else's shortcomings?
2. Embrace God's plan for that burden. If the burden is from God for your good, then accept it as such. If the burden is from guilt, then know that God is prepared to forgive. If the burden is for your growth, then you will have to prepare yourself for change and development.
I think often of the words of Hebrews 12:2 ". . . looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God." Knowing God's plan for the burden he bore to the cross, Jesus embraced future joy while enduring a present cross.
3. Affirm Christ's relationship to your burden. Is he sharing the burden for good? Has he already borne your burden of guilt? Is he lovingly interceding for your maturity?
4. Prayerfully put Christ in charge of your burden. Literally, "Jesus, I can't carry this. Would you please carry this for me? As much as I know how, I'm putting this in your hands."
5. Live in freedom from the burden. Yes, you will know the burden exists. You may even feel the effects of the burden, but if you have given that burden to the Lord, then get on with your life. Take to heart the promise, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and get on it with it. This is not denial, this is faith. If Christ has the burden, then you are free from the weight.
6. Avoid reclaiming the burden. Jesus will not give you back the burden you have given him unless you ask for it. Leave it with him. As often as you are confronted with the burden, remind yourself of the truth that you have cast it upon him and that both the processes and the outcomes related to the burden are in his hands and you will wait for his competent resolution to the events that once weighed you down. Proverbs 26:11 might be a helpful verse for those of us who are tempted to retake the burdens we have laid upon Christ: Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.
Three great burdens await our shoulders. God responds to each with promised grace. Let him carry you.
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Thank you for offering this relief out of kindness and not for financial gain. I will follow these guidelines. Also, I have a God Box. Each in my family has one. I use it, but often visit what I have written in the box. I will stop doing that and trust what I know to be true. Again, thank you for the guidance. My google took me right where I needed to be. I appreciate your being here.
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