At least, so the case has been for me, for a while. Whenever someone would say "Come lay your burdens down." I usually pictured a man bringing a great big bundle (much like the one Christian wore in Pilgram's Progress) and placing it at the foot of the cross, at the feet of Jesus. ( For some reason needtobreathe always came to mind too... ) And I often recalled people saying how they felt that a weight was lifted after they told Jesus about their problems and "layed their burdens down".
But I'm not sure I ever really understood the meaning, or maybe I did once and just forgot. In any case, heres what I have learned.
I used to think, "Why would God want me to tell Him about all my problems? He already knows them!" So what's the point in telling God about something He already knows more about than we do? Well that's kind of a loaded question, yet simple.
First of all I think it's important to note that "laying your burdens down" does not mean complaining about your life to God. Granted if you are frustrated and need to find answers to some difficult questions, our God is a big God, he can handle your questions. The key is humility.
When we know that we've done all we can, and things still aren't working out, or perhaps we have loved someone in any and every way possible yet recieve no love in return, or some other similar situation.....we are burdened. And naturally, because God created us for companionship, we need to tell someone! Or rather, share it with someone and know that they understand us and feel our pain. Unfortuantely though, as humans we are flawed, and can't always be there for eachother. But that's where our perfect Father comes in.
He tells us that no matter whats going on, He is there for us to share our struggles with. But theres more, He does something even our brothers and sisters in Christ can't do. God isn't just another person who can relate to how were feeling, He's the one in control of the situation were telling Him all about. And when we show Him that we want Him to be a part of it, by sharing it with Him, laying our burdens down, and asking Him for guidance He is able to step in and fix things! It's beautiful how that works isn't it?
But there is a key part in the "laying your burdens down" part. We don't need to just tell Him what's going on. We need to take everything were feeling : hurt, anger, frustration, confusion, sorrow and say "God, I am giving all of these feelings and situations to You." In other words, don't keep them out in the open for everyone to see, or buried on the inside where they are sure to corrode.
A good example of this, I think would be : If someone has hurt you, justly or unjustly and you are so deeply hurt that your response is anger, frustration and condemnation toward that person. God doesn't want you to sulk around, stomp everywhere you go, sneer at that person or show distain every time you see them. He says instead, " Lay your burdens down, at My feet." Which in essence is, giving our hurt to God before it turns into anger, and saying, "I'm not going to let my feelings toward someone dictate what I do, and how I act." Instead we choose, to love them like Christ does, we must look at them as though they never wronged us in anyway. Just like Christ does.
This doesn't fix everything of course, there may still be some distain between you and that person, because of a wrong that has not been fixed. But you don't have to walk around with that heavy burden on your shoulders all the time. Through Christ we can find freedom from those burdens, and are able to show the love of Christ to those who have hurt us, no matter how we are being treated or what our circumstances are.
And now the meaning for the title comes........"You can't run when your holding suitcases.." (Yes I got that from a song c ; )
So take a moment to visit with Christ, drop those suitcases at His feet, and let Him fill you with His love to openly and unconditionally give to everyone around you. Because ultamately, the love of Christ is the best antidote for every problem we have. c :
