Day 2: Cast your burden
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you… (Psalm 55:22 - ESV)
Loving Father in heaven, caring compassionate God, You watch over Your people for their good (Jeremiah 24:6). You watch over Your people day and night for You neither slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121:4).
Lord, You have told us that we are not exempt from the challenges, the hardships, the pain and the trials of this life (John 16:33). But You have promised Your presence and Your peace, Your comfort and Your strength. You invite us to ask. You invite us to pray for mercy and grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
We lift to You today the burdens overwhelm us, the sorrows that engulf us, the quandaries that quell our courage and sap our strength. We thank You that we have a Great High Priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). We thank You that through Him we can approach, and cast all our anxiety and our cares on You (1 Peter 5:7).
Thank You for Your sustaining power. The apostle Paul reminds us that in You we find all we need: He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).
We pray for those who are too bowed down to bring You their burdens—too paralyzed by numbness, too wearied by strain, too consumed by fear, trauma, mental and emotional pain, spiritual struggles. We symbolically bring them to You on our prayers, digging through vaults and high things and obstructions that stand in the way (Mark 2:4).
Cast these down, O Lord, as we cast our friends, our loved ones, our neighbors and our fellow travelers on Your mercy and grace. Thank You that You forgive sins and heal broken bodies, hearts and spirits.
Give us all the strength to endure, persevere, overcome. Train our eyes to focus on You, instead of whatever surrounds us. Fill our hearts and our minds with the comforting words of Your promises: When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who watch over my way (Psalm 142:3). Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19).
I must tell Jesus all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone; In my distress He kindly will help me, He ever loves and cares for His own.
Refrain: I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus! I cannot bear my burdens alone; I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus! Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles, He is a kind, compassionate Friend; If I but ask Him He will deliver, Make of my troubles quickly an end.
Tempted and tried I need a great Savior, One who can help my burdens to bear; I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus: He all my cares and sorrows will share.
What must I do when worldliness calls me? What must I do when tempted to sin? I must tell Jesus, and He will help me Over the world the vict’ry to win.
~ Elisha A. Hoffman ~ 1893
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