"...Who Daily Bears Our Burdens"

Do you have those times when a verse of Scripture just completely knocks you off your feet?

This morning was one of those times.

My friend Charlene  posted this verse on Facebook this morning.  Just a simple verse...14 words...but wow, what powerful words they are!

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens. ~ Psalm 68:19 NIV

As I read them, I began to meditate on their meaning, and I was overcome with awe and gratefulness.  

He is LORD.  Lord of the universe.  Lord over all things.  Bro. Gary says so often..."People want Him to be Savior, but they don't want Him to be Lord.  And you can't have one without the other!"

He is LORD.  I've recently begun meditating on Philippians 2 and plan to memorize it in the first quarter of this year.  Philippians 2:9-11 elaborate on the fact that He is Lord:

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He is also our Savior.  We're just coming out of the Christmas season...our family just packed up the Christmas tree today, in fact.  We've celebrated His coming to earth as a baby in order to become fully man (while remaining fully God, in a way we can't begin to understand) so that He could save us from our sin and destruction.  

He is Lord of the universe. He has already provided salvation for us through His death and resurrection, and now He is seated in glory at the right hand of the Father...

...and yet, He "daily bears our burdens."  

Wow.  

Daily. Bears. Our. Burdens. 

Let those words soak in.  

The God of the universe, Lord of all things, Savior of the world "daily bears our burdens."  

All of them.  

Those days when the burdens seem absolutely, totally, completely overwhelming...crushing, even...He carries them.  The days when we get a terrifying medical diagnosis, receive notice that we've lost a job, discover a child is being horribly abused, or lose a loved one we can't imagine living without...on those days, He bears our burdens.

And those days when the burdens might seem minor in the scheme of things, and yet they weigh us down so heavily...He carries them.  The never-ending to do list, a strained friendship, financial struggles, whining children...the stressors that burden us in the daily ordinary...He bears those burdens. 

He not only carries those burdens...He carries US through them.  The Amplified translation puts it this way: 

 Blessed be the Lord, Who bears our burdens and carries us day by day, even the God Who is our salvation! Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!  ~ Psalm 68:19 AMP

He carries us day by day.  He carries us close to His heart!  I love the ending there..."pause, and calmly think of that".  I don't know about you, but when I'm feeling burdened and overwhelmed, that is not my typical reaction.  And yet I want it to be!   

I want to remember in all the stresses and strains and burdens to come in 2014 to "pause, and calmly think" of Jesus carrying not only the burdens that threaten to overwhelm, but carrying me (and those I love) through them as well.

Has God already knocked you off your feet with His Word this year?  Please share in the comments!  

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