View source for A memento of divine affection',

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<p>&quot;Cast your <strong>burden </strong>upon the Lord — and He shall <em>sustain </em>you.&quot; Psalm 55:22<br />
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  This privilege is a very precious one.<em> We all have our burden.</em> No matter how happy anyone is — he is bearing some weight of <em>care</em>, or <em>sorrow</em>, or <em>responsibility</em>. Continually we find our load <em>too heavy for our own unaided strength</em>. We feel that we cannot carry it without help. <em>Human </em>love comes up close beside us, willing, if it were possible, to take the burden from our shoulder, and carry it for us. But this is not possible. &quot;Every man must bear his own burden.&quot; <em>Most of life's loads, are not transferable.</em><br />
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  Take <em>pain</em>, for instance. No tenderer, truest love — can bear our pain for us, or even bear any smallest part of it. <br />
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  Or take <em>sorrow</em>. As close as human friendship may come to us when our heart is breaking with grief — it cannot take from us any least portion of the anguish we suffer, as we meet bereavement. <br />
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  Or take <em>struggle with temptation</em>. We can get no human help in it, and must pass through the struggle alone.<br />
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  It will be noticed, too, that God Himself does not promise to <em>bear</em> our burden for us. So much is it an essential and inseparable part of our life — that even divine love will not relieve us of its weight. <br />
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  The teaching from all this, is that we cannot hope to have our life-burden <em>lifted </em>off. Help cannot come to us, in the way of <em>relief</em>. The prayer to be <em>freed </em>from the load, cannot be answered. The assurance is — not that the Lord will <em>take away </em>our burden when we cast it upon Him, lifting it away from our shoulder. It is, instead, a promise that while <em>we</em>bear our burden, whatever it may be — that the Lord will sustain us. &quot;Cast your burden upon the Lord — and He shall <em>sustain</em> you.&quot; He will give us <em>strength</em> to continue faithful, to go on with our doing of His will, unimpeded, unhindered, by the pressure of the load we must carry.<br />
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  An alternative rendering of this verse is, &quot;Cast your <strong>gift </strong>upon the Lord — and He shall sustain you.&quot; Thus we see, that our <em>burden </em>is a<em> gift </em>of God to us! At once the thing, which a moment ago seemed so oppressive in its weight, so unlovely in its form — is hallowed and transformed! We had thought it to be an evil — whose effect upon us could be only hurtful, hindering our growth, marring our happiness. But now we see that it is another of<em> God's blessings</em>, not evil — but good, designed not to hurt us, nor to impede our progress — but to help us onward!<br />
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  A <em>gift </em>from a human friend, is a token and pledge of their love for us. In like manner, God sent this <em>gift </em>to us — because He <em>loves </em>us. It is <strong>a <em>memento </em>of divine affection</strong>. It may be hard for us to understand this. It may be a burden of <em>pain</em>, and pain seems so opposed to comfort — that we cannot see how it can be a gift of love. It may be <em>sorrow</em>; and sorrow never for the present seems to be joyous — but always grievous. It may be great <em>loss</em> — the stripping from us of life's pleasant things, leaving emptiness and desolation. How such <em>burdens </em>as these can be <em>tokens of divine affection</em>, God's gift of love — it is hard for us to conceive. Yet we know that God is our Father, and that His love for us never fails. Whatever comes from His hand to us — must be sent in love!<br />
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  The <strong><em>world </em></strong>offers attractive things — pleasures, gains, promises of honour and delight. To the <em>eye of sense</em>, these appear to be life's best things. But too often they enfold bitterness and hurt, the fruit of evil. At the <em>bottom of the cup</em> — are <em>dregs of poison!</em> On the other hand, the things that <em><strong>God </strong></em>gives, appear sometimes unattractive, undesirable, even repulsive! We shrink from accepting them. But they enfold, in their severe and unpromising form — the blessings of divine love.<br />
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  We know how true this is of<strong> life's pains and sorrows</strong>. Though grievous to <em>sense</em>, they leave in the heart which receives them with faith and trust — the fruits of divine blessing. Whatever our <em>burden </em>may be, it is <em>God's gift</em>, and brings to us some precious thing, from the<em> treasury of divine love</em>. This fact makes it sacred to us. Not to accept it — is to thrust away from us, a blessing sent from heaven. We need, therefore, to treat most reverently — the things in our life, which we call <em>burdens</em>. <br />
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  We should regard<em> all the gifts</em> of God to us — with <em>affection</em>. This is easy for us so long as these gifts come to us in <em>pleasant </em>form — things that give joy to us. But with no less love and gratitude should we receive and cherish God's gifts, which come in <em>forbidding </em>form. It is the <em>same divine love</em> which sends the one — and also the other. The one is no less good — than the other. There is blessing as truly in the gift of pain or loss or trial — as in the gift of song and gain and gladness. Whatever God sends — we should receive in confidence, as a gift of His love. Thus it is, that <em>our burden</em>, whatever it may be, is <em>hallowed</em>. <br />
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  It may not always be <em>easy </em>to carry it, for even <em>love </em>sometimes lays <em>heavy burdens</em> on the shoulders of its beloved. A wise father does not seek always to make life <em>easy </em>for his child. Nothing could be more unkind! He would have his child grow <em>strong</em> — and, therefore, he refuses to take away the <em>hard task</em>. God is too loving and kind, too true a father — to give us only <em>easy things</em>. He makes the burden <em>heavy</em> — that we may become <em>strong </em>in bearing it. But He is always near; and He gives us the help we need, that we may never faint beneath it. Thus we may always know, that our <em>burden </em>is our Father's gift to us!
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