10/13 Life

I will Carry You and Save You
(ISAIAH 46:1-7)
 
Footprints by Margaret F. Powers (1964)
 
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
 
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
 
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
 
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
 
Pause & Reflect
 

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
1Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.
 

1. [v.1-2] *Biblical principle – The cause of burdens is our idolatry. Idols make you carry their weight. They can only drop, so they will drop to the floor to stoop before the LORD. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Drop the idolatry you carry, or you too will be carried away to the floor with it. “Bel” and “Nebo” were two prominent idols of wisdom and creation that the ancient Babylonians worshipped. It is strange how God’s people would choose to worship the idols of their abductors – those who carried them off to captivity, but they did. They were influenced by Babylonian prosperity, instead of God’s promises. These idols were heavy, burdening even their livestock that carried them. The idols themselves “cannot save the burden.” Their end is to stoop, bow down together before the LORD of lords and King of kings. What causes our burdens? Why do we choose to carry them over drop them? How do we believe the lie that carrying burdens on us can “save/deliver the burden” from us? How are your burdens like dead weights you carry around? What are your burdens that weigh you down, and how can you drop them off at the cross of Christ today?

3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb;
4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
 

1. [v.3-4] *Biblical principle – The LORD God says, “I will carry you… I will bear, I will carry and will save.” We can stop carrying our own idolatrous burdens. The LORD will carry us, bear the burden, and save us. He has already been carrying us from before our birth, born of Him, carried from the womb, and will continue to carry us to our old age and gray hairs. Like the good shepherd that brings home his lost sheep wrapped around his shoulders, He carries us from beginning to end. The act of dropping our burdens instead of carrying them opens the ear to listen to what the LORD is saying. “Listen to me… who have been borne by me from before your birth… even to your old age… I will carry you,” says the LORD. How can we listen to the LORD today? If the LORD has been carrying us from even before our birth, how does that bring His comfort to loosen our grip on our burdens? If the LORD will carry us to gray hairs, how does that give us hope to deny carrying future burdens? If the LORD holds the totality of our life from eternity past into eternity future, how do we need to listen to Him today and rest on His shoulders instead of ours?

 
5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!
7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.
 

1. [v.5-7] *Biblical principle – [v.5-7] Stop comparing the LORD God with your idol. Idols will deceive you to think they are worthier of worship. Yet they will place a crushing weight on your shoulder although they cannot answer you, move for you, nor save you from trouble. Comparing anything with God or comparing others with yourself will destroy you. Only Jesus is the burden lifter and burden bearer. He carried the weight of the cross for us, so that our shoulders can be freed to carry His cross to a dark world. How do our burdens begin with a spirit of comparison – comparing God with other people or things, and comparing others with someone else, and comparing yourself with other people? Idolatry is born when we compare people or things to God, giving them equal or greater worth than God. This idolatry becomes a burden once our expectations of these things are not met, and we become disappointed for one reason or another, because they fail to move for us, answer us, and save us. What are these things in your life? How does Jesus call you to be freed from them today by picking-up your own cross, that throws off everything you’ve been carrying? How does carrying your cross for Christ make all your burdens light and easy?

 

 
The central truth of this word was –
Jesus is inviting us day after day to place our burdens on Him. Why carry something that will weigh you down to the floor? Like our idols, we’ll only end up stooping before the LORD God, who says, “I will carry you.” Let Him do so. Stop comparing others to God. Stop comparing yourself to God. Stop comparing other things to God. It will always come up short, keeping you burdened in sinful shame. Instead, trust Him that He is carrying you. Stay yoked with Jesus, who moves for you, answers you, carrying and saving you. Come to Him, all who are weary!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)