Burdened
When I started some of my environmental training, I was handed a huge notebook. It was 4" or maybe 5" thick. It was cumbersome.
I could leave it at class, but then I couldn’t review it at home.
I was stuck. I had this cinder block chained to my hip. I actually started with sciatica for the first time since before my hysterectomy.
Finally, I cannibalized the notebook. I started just pulling out the chunks I knew I would need. Everything else stayed put in the cinder block.
Unfortunately, that won’t always work. Eventually, I expect there will be a schedule change, and I’ll have to hustle to my car five blocks away in free parking to get what I need.
But then I wonder…
How many Christians are like that?
God gave us His Word in the Bible. We’re supposed to study it, meditate on it, devour it.
But how many of us feel like the Bible is too heavy? It tells us things that are too heavy to bear — the justice of Father God, our favorite activity is sin, our routes to heaven are limited.
So we forget about it, and it sits gathering dust. In lieu of complete ignorance, we might pick and choose what we want to hear like filling our tray with favorite foods at a smorgasbord.
Life goes on. Things go well…for a while.
Then the unexpected happens. The enemy sets up that near occassion of sin, a winking at immorality. An image appears on our screen, an old flame sends us a friend request, our timesheet is short an hour or two.
We’re not prepared. We haven’t done the heavy lifting of serious study. We don’t have the right Word on our tongue because we wouldn’t devour it all.
We fall. We fail. Life gets chaotic. While God’s forgiveness is great, sometimes the temporal consequences of sin are long-lasting, far-reaching, and heavy-to-bear. Our only way out is through.
But it is avoidable. Like the Boy Scouts whose motto is “Be Prepared,” we should always be ready.
Our serious study should write God’s Will as revealed in His Word on our hearts. The more it’s written on our hearts, the more we will be transformed by His Grace and Mercy to will ourselves to conforming to His Will and His Word. When we face temptation, we will have an out because His Word will strengthen us to walk away.
Psalm 19:7–14, Amplified Bible
The law of the Lord is perfect (flawless), restoring and refreshing the soul; the statutes of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed]; in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins; let them not rule and have control over me. Then I will be blameless (complete), and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.
