The heavy burdens of this world

 The heavy burdens of this world

 

 

“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  'Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exodus 6:6-7).

 

 

“Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior, One who can help my burdens to bear; I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus; He all my cares and sorrows will share.  I must tell Jesus!  I must tell Jesus!  I cannot bear my burdens alone; I must tell Jesus!  I must tell Jesus!  Jesus can help me, Jesus alone” (Hymn “I Must Tell Jesus” verse 1 and chorus).  It is only labor and sorrow that this world can give us (Ps 90:10).  This world of distress, afflictions, sinfulness, and mortality afflict our minds and only gives us heavy burdens on our shoulders.  However, it is the worldly church that is more heavily weighted on our shoulders than this world.  Especially when I see and hear the sinful things happening in the church these days, my heart is heavy.  My heart is heavy when these sinful things appear and are heard from my beloved co-workers, the churches they serve and the believers' homes.  We are being secularized and our hearts are heavy and sad.  In the heaviness and sadness of this heart, I write down again as I am meditating on Exodus 6:6-7, which I meditate and preach at the morning prayer meeting.

 

God had surely seen the affliction of His people who were in Egypt, and had given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters (Exod. 3:7).  God was aware of their suffering s (v. 7).  He had seen the oppression with which the Egyptians were oppressing the Israelites (v. 9).  So God called Moses (v. 4) and persuaded him (3:11-4:17) to go to Pharaoh, a king of Egypt.  So Moses when to Pharaoh with his brother Aaron and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness” (5:1).  “But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go’” (v. 2).  When I thought about the Pharaoh’s response “Who is the LORD” and disobedience in his ignorance (v. 2), it reminded me Moses’ response “Who am I” (3:11) and his disobedience.  This reminds me what John Calvin said that by knowing God, I know myself and by knowing myself, I know God.  I realized that if I don’t know God, I will eventually disobey God's Word.  King Pharaoh who didn’t know God not only disobeyed God's word and didn’t send the Israelites, but he also made their labor to be heavier (5:9) because he thought they were lazy and that was why they said “Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD” (vv. 8, 17).  His purpose was to keep the Israelites from listening to the "lies" that Moses and Aaron said "Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD" (v. 9).  As a result, the Israelites were discouraged because of cruel bondage (6: 9) and they blamed on Moses and Aaron (5:21).  When Moses heard their voice of their resentment, he returned to the Lord and said: “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people?  Why did You ever send me?  ‘Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all’” (vv. 23-24).  When Moses saw that Pharaoh was more abusive to the Israelites because what he said to him in obedience to God’s calling and sending, he thought that God wasn’t delivering his people (v. 24).  So the covenant God reminded Moses of his promise to save the Israelites (6:1-5), spoke this word to him in Exodus 6:6-7: “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  'Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”  The heart of the word is the God’s promise that He would bring the Israelites out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  The God’s plan of salvation was to take the Israelites out of the heavy burdens of the Egyptians and lead them to the land of Canaan, which He swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v.8).  Moses obeyed God's command and proclaimed to the Israelites.  But they didn’t listen to Moses because of their discouragement and cruel bondage (v. 9).  In the end, the Israelites couldn’t hear the God’s promise of ‘I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’ because their hearts were heavy and broken due to the heavy burdens of the Egyptians.  

 

                Do you hear the promise of God's salvation in your ear?  Or do you not hear the voice of God's salvation because of the heavy burdens of this world?  Why is it that we aren’t being persuaded by the God's promise of salvation even though our God is God of salvation?  It is because of the heavy burden of this world in our hearts.  Through his servants like Pharaoh, Satan is making our burdens heavier in this world.  As a result, Satan is making us unable to go up to the day of the Lord and worship Him.  Satan is making us to be lazy and prevents us from worshiping God by making us to be very busy in this world.  Also, Satan constantly whispers in our ears that the word of God's truth is a lie, making us unable to offer worship to God that is the purpose of our salvation.  In the end, Satan is hurting our hearts by making us to bear the burdens of this world so that we will be able to hear the word of God.  What should we do?  We need go to God who is able to deliver us out of heavy burdens of this world (6: 6-7).  By faith we must put our broken hearts in prayer before the Lord.  God will surely answer our cry as he sees our affliction, hears the cry of our broken hearts and knows our sufferings (3:7, 9).   And God will come down and will rescue us (v. 8).  I hope and pray that this grace of God’s salvation be with you all.

 

           “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,

 and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt. 11:28-30).