We’re looking at 5 Reasons Why We Don’t Experience a Light Burden. We’ve looked at the possibility that we may be carrying a burden that’s not ours and examined how to Cast Our Cares on the Lord. We’ve also looked at the possibility that God has trusted us with something of value and how we can know if we’re trusting God. We’ve reminded ourselves that God’s ready to help and how to be yoked with Jesus. Now let’s look at 4 ways we can practically do this.
Here’s what I’ve learned to do when the yoke seems uncomfortable or downright painful:
1. Find a Psalm
I find a Psalm that resonates with my emotion and I camp out on it for a while. I’ll memorize it, meditate on it, and pray it out. I find it helps to know someone else thousands of years ago felt the same way I feel now. It encourages me to see them choosing to praise God in spite of their complaint at the moment. Often, if it’s a Davidic Psalm I know his story and know how God answered his cry despite his mistakes and sin and treachery of those around him. If God did that for David, I know He’ll do it for me.
2. Pour out my heart
I pour out my heart to God. I do this in private. It’s between me and Him. I let Him know my hurts and pains and disappointments.
I pour out my complaint before him;
before him I tell my trouble. Psalm 142:2 (New International Version)
You can entrust your compliant to a mature Christian friend, but be very careful you don’t encourage a weaker one to stumble.
3. Choose to be Thankful
I turn my complaint to praise. I don’t do that because I necessarily feel like it all the time. I do it because that’s what I most often see in the Psalms of lament. Praise is a choice and the best way to choose praise is to choose first to be thankful.
4. Wait to Listen – Soak
“Wait to listen?” you might be thinking, “I’ve done that, nothing happened.”
So wait longer.
“But I can’t hear Him.”
Yes you can. You’re His sheep, you know His voice.
“But He doesn’t speak to me.”
Yes He does. Make the time to learn to listen. Take the time to be still and know.
Waiting is a disciple and it takes time to develop. Most people find no value in disciplines because they don’t discipline themselves to see the benefits. They quit too soon.
Then they say “I’ve done that already” and they give up. And when they give up they choose to believe their feelings instead of trust their God.
That leads us to the fourth reason I’ve come up with why we don’t experience a light burden. We’ll look at that next post in this series.
Hi Trevor:
#4 is definitely important and probably the hardest (at least for me.) I need to discipline myself to wait.
Thanks!
Kevin
Great list. Number 3 is particularly important. Ingratitude and unbelief are closely related, and it’s faith that moves mountains. The double minded receive nothing from the Lord.
If turning the complaint to praise seems too difficult, I find that turning _from_ the complaint to praise can be very effective. That is, on the most painful days of our lives, there is something to be grateful for, even if it’s the weather, seeing a flower, hearing a bird, or a smile from a complete stranger.
Yet another informative post. I agree with you that sometimes we don’t allow God’s timing to come though. We then fuss that God didn’f follow through.