Lifting The Load

Scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:6-11 (NIV)

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 

Devotional:

Most of us have been through difficult times.  Some are worse than others.  I look at what I am going through and think that it is really difficult.  There are times when I struggle with faith and ask why.  At times I begin to doubt and wonder why I even try.  There have been times in my life when I knew I couldn’t make it through.  In these times I need God the most.  It is when it is most difficult and cannot manage it that I have to rely on Him.  There have been times that I couldn’t manage but faith in Christ saw me through.  Jesus was with me helping me through.

Sometimes when I think my life is so bad He gives me a little nudge.  He shows me that things could be worse.  I look at what someone else is going through and see that things aren’t so bad.  I wonder how they could possibly get through that.  They too are relying on Christ to get through the night.  Sometimes what we are experiencing might not seem as bad as what others go through.  Don’t criticize yourself too much.  They just might be looking at you wondering how it is that you are coping with your situation.  I have two thoughts that come to mind about our troubles.  One of them is that my grass really is greener than theirs.  What I am dealing with really isn’t as bad as what someone else has dealt with.  The other, almost contrary, thought is that what I might be going through doesn’t seem as bad to me as what others are going through.  They in turn, look back at me wondering how I can manage what I am going through.  To them what I am dealing with is worse than what they are dealing with.  Our circumstances may be bad and difficult to handle.  God helps us through them and gives us what we need to make it through if we just trust and rely on Him.  So our burdens become lighter.  Other people may not see how much of our load Jesus is actually carrying.  They see the entire weight of it resting upon our shoulders.  The same is for us.  We see the entire burden resting on their shoulders and wonder how they can manage.  When in reality Jesus is lifting ninety percent of it off their shoulders.

One last thought to ponder.  One of the ways to lighten our load is to share it.  We must be willing to let go and receive help.  We also have to be willing to help lift someone else’s burden…