Posts Tagged: carrying stuff

“LETTING GOD DO THE HEAVY LIFTING”

On November 9, 2016 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Bel (one of the names of the main Babylonian god, who was also called Marduk) has bowed down, Nebo (another Babylonian god, who was the patron of scribes) stoops over; Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast.

2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.

3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth And have been carried from the womb;

4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:1-4).

I got to be a grateful observer of an amusing and enlightening little vignette the other day.  My wife and I were visiting one of her brothers and his family.  One of my grandnephews, age five, had gotten a new bike recently, and wanted to bring it upstairs from the basement to show us.

His dad said, “You’re not strong enough to carry the bike upstairs.”

The little guy had an interesting comeback: “I’m going to bring it upstairs, but you’re going to carry it.”

Well, I could take this a number of different directions!  I could talk about visionaries (the little guy) and administrators (his dad).  Or, I could talk about the semantic range of the words “bring” and “carry.”

But I think I’ll talk about us and God instead.  (Talking about God is so much more fun than actually obeying God!)  Heaven knows we’ve been talking enough about politics here of late.  So, how about thinking about human and divine relationships?  Perhaps such relationships are where most of the real potential and perils lie.

Certainly, we humans have responsibilities to “bring” and to “carry” certain things.  However, sometimes we may forget who does the heavy carrying—God.  Some of us have stooped shoulders from carrying things and people we were never designed to carry.

We try to carry other people, and drop them.  We try to carry the load of our past mistakes and sins, and wonder why we feel so desperate.  We try to carry the future (it’s called worry), and wonder why we can’t relax.

The list goes on, but I won’t.

Isaiah reminded the exiled people of Judah that God had carried them all along, and would continue to do so.

Years ago, I had a systematic theology professor named Thomas Parker.  He pointed out the passage I quoted to begin this post, Isaiah 46:1-4, and then said something I’ll never forget.  “We have to carry idols.  The true God is the one who carries us.”

To finish the story that gave rise to this post, the little guy did bring his bike upstairs.  His father did carry it up for him.  Dads are like that!

We have a heavenly Father, who is only too glad to carry us.  Perhaps we should let him!

What are you carrying right now? Drop it!  Throw your shoulders back!  God is still in control!  He always does the heavy lifting.

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