FBC Morning Light – March 17, 2023

St. Patrick's Day, Bible Reading, and a Psalm 55 Focus

Well, a good Friday morning to you. We are heading into the weekend very quickly. Today's also St. Patrick's Day. I hope you have a good celebration of that particular day when the gospel actually was taken to the Irish country of Ireland.

In spite of the way St. Patrick has been distorted through the years, well, I don't want to get into all that, but I probably will today enjoy a Reuben sandwich or maybe some shepherd's pie or some way to celebrate my heritage.

I have a little bit of Irish blood in me on my mother's side. She was, after all, an O 'Hare. Well, anyway, today we're reading in our Bible reading passages Numbers 33 and 4, Luke 11, and the 55th Psalm.

Burdens, Fear, and Betrayal in Psalm 55

I want to focus on Psalm 55 and eventually just one particular verse to leave us with today. Before we get to that verse, let me ask you this. What's weighing you down? What is the overwhelming burden that troubles you?

Maybe it's got you so weighed down you almost feel like you can't take another step, or it's causing you a great deal of fear and anxiety, maybe despair. David can relate. Listen to what he writes here in this 55th Psalm.

He's praying to the Lord. He says, attend to me and hear me. I am restless in my complaint and moan noisily. In verses 4 and following, he says, my heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. He said, oh, that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off and remain in the wilderness.

I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Oh, you think David's a little burdened down? If you read the whole psalm, you get the sense of why. He's got some enemies that are wanting to destroy him.

He says in verse 3, there's the voice of the enemy, the oppression of the wicked, they bring down trouble upon me, and in wrath they hate me. And the thing of it is, it wasn't just the mean guys, it wasn't people who were obvious enemies, because he says in verse 12, it's not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it.

Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him. But, he says, it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and we walked to the house of God in the throng.

Have you had experiences like that? Somebody who thought you thought was a friend, somebody who thought was a companion in the work or in your life, and then they betrayed you. They just totally betrayed you, and sought to destroy you, even worse.

I've been through that a couple of times, and it's a very, very, very painful thing. Well, maybe that's not the nature of the burden that's weighing you down today. What is it? What is it that's got you so filled with fear?

What is it that's got you disquieted within you, and despairing you? What is that burden? Well, after expressing all of this, and explaining what it is that's causing him so much anxiety, or fear, or despair, David comes to this point in verse 22, where he says, cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.

Casting Your Burden on the Lord

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He doesn't say there that cast your burden on the Lord, and all of a sudden, everything that's causing the burden is going to go away. It'll be gone.

That's not the promise. He says he will sustain you. That is, he will carry you through. He will enable you to endure. It's like the hymn writer says, when through fiery trials my pathway shall go, my strength all-sufficient shall be your supply.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my strength all-sufficient shall be thy supply. Oh, you may go through fiery trials. The path may be one of great discomfort. There may be a flood that overwhelms you.

There may be a fire that burns you, but cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. I will go with you through the fire, the Lord says. I will bring you through the flood. So, don't deal with this thing on your own.

Don't be wringing your hands in despair and fear, and your heart filled with anxiety. Don't do it all by yourself. Take that burden to the Lord. Cast it on the Lord, and he will sustain you. Father, there are some who are listening, watching today, who are burdened down with very troubling.

It may be a diagnosis. It may be a conflict. It may be some bad news that they got from a far country. It may be some very painful situation in a relationship experience. Lord, whatever that burden is, I pray that you would teach us to cast it upon you, so that you might sustain us through the trial, through the difficulty, whatever it might be.

Oh, we would love it, Father, if you would take the problem away. The trial would disappear. Perhaps your purpose is not to have the trial disappear, but to have us learn to trust you, cast our burdens upon you, and walk with you through that trial.

Let you carry us through the flood. So, help us to do that today. We pray in Jesus' name. All right, well, listen, have a good rest of your Friday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and gather together with us in God's house on this coming Lord's Day.

Hope you'll do that. Take care. Have a good day.