A Christian perspective can be easily misinterpreted.
Because I know that God is sovereign and able to govern the world and all that
it is in it, I can be calm regarding the stuff that happens because I know God
is in charge. This calm reliance on His love and power can be misinterpreted;
people might thing that I don’t care about the mayhem and tragedy in this
world.
Sometimes I misinterpret my burdens though. I can feel deep
concern for the mess out there because God cares about the suffering going on
in this world, but I can also be in a flap because I don’t believe that He does
care. One burden comes from having His heart of compassion; the other is based
on fear and panic.
Tozer said that warm hearts and cool heads should belong
to Christians. His reason? We are seated above earthly circumstances and can
calmly look down without being moved in spirit over the happenings in this
world. He points to this passage:
“Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’” (Hebrews 8:1–5)
Even though Tozer’s conclusions are often a stretch from
the Scriptures he uses, this passage did remind me that the Lord God is on the
throne. He is the High Priest of heaven who is sovereign, even when I cannot
understand what He is doing.
Why then the burdens? The weight in my heart for a world
gone crazy can have two sources: fear or faith. I can panic over floods,
hurricanes, typhoons, crime, fires and so on because they are tragic and God’s
creation is suffering. I can feel the heart of a caring God who knows and cares
for even the sparrows that fall (Luke 12). Yet if my burden is the burden of
the Holy Spirit for pain and loss, it is not excessive because Jesus said, “My
burden is light” (Matthew 11). It is also evidence that the Spirit who lives in
me is conveying to me His heart for the needs of people.
However, those burdens can be fearful and overwhelming,
without trust in God’s sovereign power and even rooted in fear and pride. I
start thinking that I must do something even if it is only identifying with the
pain of others. Fear is anxious about the outcome and acts without waiting on
the Lord for direction. With fear, I try to run the world even though I know He
is the only one who can.
The burdens of faith are rooted in humility. They are the
result of a heart willing to bear whatever the Lord puts on it, then praying to
give it back to Him. It is obeying what I know — that God can deal with it. He might
give me an assignment but humility assumes nothing, not even that my prayers will
‘fix’ these issues. They belong to God, not my will. Faith in Him knows Jesus
will ‘win’ even when everything looks very black. Fear runs in circles; faith
attaches itself to God.
^^^^^^^^^^
Jesus, when the burdens of the world start getting me
down, I realize I must pray lest my faith slip into fear. Forgive me for
letting that happen and quickly let me know so I will be praising You instead
of banging my head against a wall.
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