Bowed Down by the Load of Life

The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down.

The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.

Psalm 146:7-8 NIV    Psalm 146:8b NLT   Psalm 145:14 NLT

The first thing I notice in these verses is that it is THE LORD who does the work. He is the One active on our behalf. The Lord sets free. The Lord opens blind eyes and The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. Verse 8 wraps it up with this beautiful sidenote – the Lord loves the righteous. (Of course, the only righteous ones are those who are cloaked in the righteousness of Christ.)

Though you may, or may not be, behind the steel bars of a physical cell, each of us can be prisoners of our past, or regret, or addiction or bitterness, or loneliness.

While we may not be physically blind, are there not moments (or years?) when we are blinded by grief or unforgiveness or emotional ache, or blinded to our own need for the Savior?

And who among us has not been, at some point, bowed down by the trials of life? Or as one translation puts it, “weighed down” beneath the load of real life? This is the snippet that caught my attention as I read and reread it this morning. In my mind’s eye, imagining a heavy load, literally bowing the back of a person struggling to simply put one foot in front of the other. And it is to you I want to speak.

Probably because I have walked many miles with heavy loads, I am most drawn to those bowed down by the weight of life. Some loads I have needlessly put on my own back; other loads have been placed there by someone else’s choices. Regardless of how the load came to be, the answer is the same. I must. You must. Look to the Lord God to enable us to *carry it. He Himself will bear the weight, as we walk in trusting obedience to Him. Not that He will remove the burdens of life, but that He Himself will carry us… and our burdens. Lifting the weight of it from our tired shoulders. Because He loves us. Simply astounding.

The sweetest prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who have no hope in anything but his love.” – Charles Spurgeon

Father, I confess there are times when the weight of the load of life seems more than I can bear. It’s then that You remind me that, apart from You, it is more than I can bear. Cause me to quickly release the weight and rest in Your sovereign care. Come what may. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

*There are some weights that He intends us to throw off, rather than carry. We need to seek His wisdom, through His Word and prayer, to know the difference.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

“Upholds”

סוֹמֵ֣ךְ (sō·w·mêḵ) Verb      Strong’s 5564: To prop, to lean upon, take hold of