WednesdayReflection
7th June 2023
Scott Hubbard says
Roll Your Burdens onto God
There was no more money for milk.
Donations to the orphanage had been drying up for months.
The director rose from bed and thought of the hundreds of children
still sleeping.
They would wake up soon. They would come to the kitchen expecting milk,
a staple breakfast food at the orphan house.
And if God did not intervene, they would go away hungry.
He prayed on the two-minute walk to the orphanage.
He asked that God would show compassion like a Father to his children,
that he would somehow provide the money they needed for milk.
More than ten thousand children depended on George Müller for food,
clothing, and shelter throughout his lifetime. His orphanages lived for
years on the edge of poverty.
And he had committed early on to never ask anyone but God for money.
The key for Müller was prayer.
When we bring our worries to God in prayer, we will never meet a
deaf ear or a reluctant glance.
The children of God, Müller says, "are permitted,
not only permitted but invited, not only invited but commanded,
to bring all their cares, sorrows, trials, and wants to their heavenly Father.
The command Müller has in mind - "Do not be anxious about anything.
Our worries may feel close to us, but in Jesus, our Father is closer.
Sometimes, we feel that our worries are too big even for God to carry.
Müller recognizes as much:
"But you say, how can I, a wife with a husband given to drinking,
not be anxious?"
But Müller goes on to say,
"It is the will of your heavenly Father that you are not to be anxious,
even in such circumstances. If you cast all your care upon him,
you will be free from anxiety even regarding this."
But God cares about more than our biggest worries.
He cares about the smallest worries that weigh on our hearts.
If not one hair on our head goes unnumbered,
if not one tear on our face goes unseen, and if
not one cry from our mouth goes unheard,
then not one of our worries will go unnoticed by God.
Some worries have a grip on us that a single prayer can't loosen.
So, Müller tells us, "Now this is what we may have to do:
not simply to mention our request before God but to go on asking
again and again with earnest prayer and supplication until we receive."
Sometimes, relief from our worries comes only on the other side of earnest,
pleading prayer, as when Paul received comfort for his thorn only
after three petitions.
As Müller prayed on his walk to the orphan house, he met a fellow
Christian who had risen early for work.
The two exchanged greetings, talked briefly, and then parted ways.
But a minute later, Müller heard hurried footsteps behind him.
His acquaintance ran back, slipped some money into Müller's hand,
and said, "for the orphans."
Enough to pay for milk.
As Müller remembered the story, he wrote,
"Truly, it is worth being poor and greatly tried in faith, for the sake of
having day by day such precious proofs of the loving interest which
our kind Father takes in everything that concerns us"
As worry lures us to bear the burdens of a broken world upon our own
broken backs, hear your Father's constant invitation to
come to broader shoulders.
Draw near to him through Jesus "with thanksgiving,
and know that the God who bore yesterday's worries is
able to bear today's as well.
Take your burdens, one by one, and learn to roll them onto him.
Article by Scott Hubbard
Editor, desiringGod.org
Scott Hubbard is a pastor at All Peoples Church, and a graduate of
Bethlehem College & Seminary.
He and his wife, Bethany, live with their two sons in Minneapolis.