Author: Gary Witcher

Oppressive Burdens

	"For Thou hast tried us, O God;" David expresses in Psalm 66:10-15, "Thou hast refined us as silver is refined.  Thou didst bring us into the net; Thou didst lay an oppressive burden upon our loins.  Thou didst make men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet Thou didst bring us out into {a place of} abundance.  I shall come into Thy house with burnt offerings; I shall pay Thee my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.  I shall offer to Thee burnt offerings of fat beasts, with the smoke of rams; I shall make {an offering of} bulls with male goats."
	As the first verses of this passages recognize, very bad things can and do happen. The Psalmist even refers to this as "an oppressive burden."
	This should really come as no surprise.  After Adam and Eve introduce sin into the world, God promises that life will not be easy.
	"To the woman He said," we read in Genesis 3:16-19, "'I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.'  Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat from it"; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.  Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"
	God warns from the beginning that bad things will happen to those living on this earth.  This does not mean that God causes these things to happen.  Remember it is Satan and the introduction of sin into the world that caused pain, suffering and death to enter.
	Even if we feel that something has come from God, we need to keep a couple of things in mind.  First, God does not send anything in an effort to tempt us.
	"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God';" James 1:13-17 cautions, "for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.  Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow." 
	The second thing to remember is that God does not allow anything that is beyond what we can bear.
	"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man;" 1 Corinthians 10:13 instructs, "and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it."
	Very bad things can and do happen.  We might even label them "oppressive burdens."  But God does not do anything to us to tempt us, and He does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to endure.  We should also note that, in spite of the burdens we bear, none of us has been called upon to resist the devil to the point of shedding blood.
	"You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;" Hebrews 12:4-9 notes, "and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.'  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom {his} father does not discipline?  But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?"
	"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels," Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, "that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; {we are} afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
	Yes, we sometimes encounter oppressive burdens.  God said we would.  But He is not trying to tempt us, and He does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.  We may have suffered greatly, but we have not been called upon to sacrifice our lives in our resistance to the devil.

	Very bad things can and do happen.  But, as David adds in the Psalm we read earlier, God can help us through.
	"We went through fire and through water;" David says in Psalm 66:12, "yet Thou didst bring us out into {a place of} abundance."
	Perhaps it helps to remember that this life is, at most, very brief.  Any discipline that we might experience is for but a short time, and it is for our own good.
	"For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them," Hebrews 12:10 says of earthly fathers, "but He {disciplines us} for {our} good, that we may share His holiness."
	Discipline is for a short time and for our own good.  And God is wanting to help us through it.  He is the God of all comfort.
	"Blessed {be} the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are {sharers} of our comfort."
	Very bad things can and do happen but God can help us through.  Although it may not seem like it at the time, the result of suffering can be something good.
	"I shall come into Thy house with burnt offerings;" the Psalm goes on in verses 13-15, "I shall pay Thee my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.  I shall offer to Thee burnt offerings of fat beasts, with the smoke of rams; I shall make {an offering of} bulls with male goats."
	As David seems to realize, overcoming oppressive burdens can yield the peaceful fruit of righteous.
	"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful;" Hebrews 12:11-13 admits, "yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.  Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that {the limb} which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."
	"And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations," Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me-- to keep me from exalting myself!  Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
	"But may it never be that I should boast," Paul states in Galatians 6:14, "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
	Very bad things can and do happen but God can help us through.  Although it may not seem like it at the time, the result of suffering can be something good.
	"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us," Hebrews 12:1-3 encourages, "let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart."
	We should not be surprised when bad things happen.  We should look to God for strength and help to make it through.  And we should pray that the ultimate result will be something good.  If we hold firmly to this truth it can set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."