September 11th and our Burden-Bearer

   

"I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  (Ps.121:1-2)

A view of God's mountains from a Young Life camp in Malibu, British Columbia...and a reminder that He is our always and forever our Helper and Sustainer.  

On this hard day of remembering, this day of September 11, might we also remember the God who sustains us in times of triumph and tragedy.  The God who sometimes seems to answer our prayers in dramatic, miraculous ways...but who also sometimes seems to answer them in ways that wound us deeply and leave us wondering why.  

But the older I've gotten, the more I've grown to find peace in that hard but mysterious place--that place of knowing God's ways are so much bigger and greater and deeper than anything my puny mind can even begin to conceive.  And if He's allowed--or withheld--that trial in our lives, well, then, we can trust that He who knows all, does best. 

In the words from a great old hymn-

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.

He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm..

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. 

We may not understand His hand...but we can trust His heart.  We may not always like His plan...but we can forever love His perfect Son, our Savior.  

And He tells us to "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you." (Ps.55:22)  

He is our Burden-Bearer even, and especially, in the midst of September 11th days.

 Mark Batterson says: "Sometimes the power of prayer is the power to carry on.  It doesn't always change your circumstances, but it gives you the strength to walk through them.  When you pray through, the burden is taken off of your shoulders and put on the shoulders of Him who carried the cross to Calvary."  

So today, we grieve for those families who lost so much on this day--shoulder their burdens Lord, and give them Your perfect peace.  And for all those today who feel mired in the mystery of unanswered prayer and are weighed and worn down by those burdens,  O Lord, renew their strength! Give them a fresh vision of the One who bears their burdens and gives them grace for this day, just for this day and this hour, to carry on.  Might they take fresh courage knowing that those dreaded clouds are, in Your perfect plan, big with mercy and will one day, one glorious day, break with blessings upon their sometimes parched hearts. 

 Remind us all--we live in the "not quite yet"--You will, one day, make all things new and right and perfect...soon, but not yet.  Help us persevere even in the mystery of the "not yet."  

And thank You for bearing our burdens in the meantime...until that glorious day.  

To God be the glory.