1 Peter 5:6, Luke 22:42, 1 Peter 5:7

Ben Doggett talks about how to lift the burdens of life up to God.

Ben Doggett

Have you ever been hiking? I'm talking about the kind where you carry your tent, sleeping bag, food etc and cover some serious millage. I love getting out into open countryside, pitching a tent under the stars and cooking on little gas fires. In order to be able to bring everything that I need for each hike, I've sorted myself out with a massive 90 litre rucksack. It's a real big beastie.

Imagine this - It's time for you to move house and I offer to come and help. When the big day rolls around, I rock up ready to get stuck in. Unusually though, I'm wearing my fully loaded, massive 90 litre hiking rucksack. You'd probably think to yourself that that was a bit odd. Imagine that as I help move your furniture from the house to the moving van, I'm puffing, panting and wobbling precariously under the extra weight of my rucksack. After a while, the time would probably come when you tentatively suggest that the rucksack ought to come off!

The astute among you will have already worked out exactly where this Life File is going! But it's still worth considering the question - Are you currently carrying weights in life that you simply need to let go of?

The other day I was reading 1 Peter and chapter 5 verses 6-7 really stood out. I started to look into it a bit deeper and here are a few things that struck me:

1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

When we're weighed down by the burdens of life, the idea of being lifted up in due time sounds great! However, it's important to note that it starts with humbling yourself. Let go of the idea that a bit of extra effort on your part is all that is required. The breakthrough can only begin when we humble ourselves under Him.

Someone once said, "Grace and pride are eternal enemies". Pride makes demands because of me but grace receives because of Him. We have to recognise that we aren't going to be lifted up because of our own prideful efforts but instead because we've humbled ourselves before our God of grace.

So what does humbling yourself actually look like? Well a good place to start is the famous words of Jesus; "Not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).

1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your burdens on him because he cares for you."

I've done a fair bit of fishing and love the tranquillity of a day by a lake or river. So I'm familiar with the the fact that casting requires you to actively do something. Peter here is showing us that we need to make the choice to cast our burdens onto Him rather than passively waiting and just hoping that things will improve in time.

And here's the best bit of all - We do all of this in light of the fact that He cares for us. You are never an inconvenience to Him! He doesn't have to check His schedule to know whether or not He has time for your burdens! He cares about the highs and lows of your life.

So let's spend time with our gracious God and cast our burdens onto Him knowing how deeply and passionately He cares for us!