A Prayer For Those With Heavy Burdens

 

 

Almighty and eternal God, who in the beginning of time created all things good and even now does not willingly grieve or afflict anyone, this week we lift into Your presence a very special group of people.  They are those whom Your servant David described as, ‘Those who walk through the valley of the shadows.’  They are those who carry difficult and never ending burdens.  We think of those who have had their joy turned into mourning because a loved one was taken from them through an accident or disease; of those families that have been torn asunder by drugs, alcohol and divorce; of parents, especially those that are elderly, who have special needs children;  adult children who make regular visits  to a parent in a nursing home;  parents that have children who are far from home and far from You; the growing number of husbands and wives who have become caregivers of those with failing memory.  We pray for these and all others who live under a shadow which makes the days of summer gloomy and gray.

 

Heavenly Father, we need no other reminder that we live in a fallen world.  We are a fallen people and we know what it is to be banished from the Garden, whose gate is guarded by a flaming sword flashing back and forth.  These burden bearers remind us that life is not all laughing and dancing.  These are those who are reminded that life is more than number of days.

 

What help and hope is there for those who carry heavy and difficult burdens?  Do the cries of those in the deep, dark valleys of life fall on deaf ears?  Do they come back as mountain echoes repeating our cries?  Or if we listen closely, can we hear Your voice calling out, “Cast Your burdens upon me and I will sustain You.”  Cast, yes, hurl them, throw them upon You and You will sustain us.  You do not promise to remove them but   to sustain, to strengthen and to hold us upright.  When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the cross was not lifted from Him, but He received the strength to take it and carry it to Golgotha.  So it shall be with all who hurl their burdens on You.

 

Father, let our testimony be, “We trusted in You.”  We said, “Our times are in Your hands.”  Let such be the experience of all who this day stagger under the most difficult of circumstances in the journey.  Hear this prayer, offered in the name which is above every name, the name of Jesus.

 

Amen