Life isn’t a MacDonalds or Starbucks drive through. You don’t get to pull up, place your order, and “have it your way.” Though you might think you know exactly what you need, or what you want, and try to order your 25 syllable drink with “extra sleeve, no cup”, the fact is when you get to life’s window, what ends up getting passed to you is often not at all what you were expecting. Sure, we have some influence sometime . . . and sometimes we might even feel like we’re in control . . . but then, BAM! . . . you get a Chai Tea with extra espresso and no caramel. So what do you do then?

Cast your burden on the LORD,
      and He will sustain you;
  He will never permit
      the righteous to be moved.    (Psalm 55:22 ESV)

Looked up that word “burden”. Literally it means “that which is given”. It’s someone’s lot . . . and maybe a lot which is to much. In the context of this verse, it certainly seems to refer particularly to that which is given which is hard to carry.

For David, in this psalm, it seems to have been a “double shot, no sweetener” . . . enemies rising up against him and, worse yet, the betrayal of a friend, a companion that David had enjoyed “sweet counsel together” as they walked among the throng within God’s house (55:13-14). The terrors of death were upon him, fear and trembling seized him, his heart was in anguish, and the horror overwhelmed him . . . all he wanted to do was fly away or go hide in the wilderness (55:4-7). Instead, he cast his burden on the LORD.

David called to God (55:16) . . . morning, noon and night . . . though sometimes all he could do as groan . . . David sought the Lord’s ear, asked Him not to hide Himself, pleaded with Him for mercy. And not out of some sense of a “last ditch attempt” because nothing else was working, but because David trusted in the Lord (55:23b) . . . David was sure that, while he may have been struggling to keep his head above water, God was able to deal with what David had been given.

What a promise! Cast your burden . . . or cast your cares . . . on the LORD . . . and He will sustain you. He will help hold it together . . . He will help contain it . . . He will enable the enduring of it . . . never allowing the His people to be overthrown by the “surprise drink” at the window.

O’ to believe the promise of God . . . to trust in the God of the promise. To take whatever is given and cast it upon the LORD . . . to know His all sufficient grace and His power in my weakness (2Cor. 12:9) . . . to know the peace that passes understanding (Php. 4:6-7) . . . to experience the reality that though “the drink” might be bitter beyond bitter, that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

Welcome to today, can I take your order?

Give me Jesus . . . no foam.

By His grace . . . for His glory.