This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled, Bound to Be Free compiled by Jan Pit. In the following short quotation from Mehdi Dibaj (Iranian, imprisoned, released and murdered for his faith in Jesus Christ), there is fodder for reflection and perhaps application:

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. (Psalm 68:19)

On a busy road with strong winds and heavy traffic, the crossing of such a road is a frightening experience.  A child would be very scared and cry:  'Daddy carry me, daddy carry me.'

In our walk with God we often experience the same storms and danger.  Sometimes the pressures are so intense that it seems impossible to go forward anymore.

In such storms, what should our attitude be?  Is there any hope or help from God?

The Lord says; 'Call upon me in the day of trouble.  I will deliver you and you will praise me.' (Psalm 50:15)

Yes, we may cast all our burdens upon Him, for He cares for us.  He daily bears our burdens.

A moment of introspection:  Through the writings of Mehdi Dibaj, we come face to face once more with God's care for us...

              The care of the Savior--a freeing Truth... (John 8:32)

              The care of the Holy Spirit--a comforting force. (John 14:16-18

              The care of the Almighty--an empowering reality... Jesus told His disciples He

                             would pray to the Father give them another Comforter. and God honored

                             Jesus' request. (Acts 1:8

David's Psalms are replete with concern--care, despair--care, terror--care, loss--care, troubled--care, and on and on.  Mehdi reminds us, too, to "cast all our burdens upon Him, for He cares for us."  There is an old gospel song entitled, "Does Jesus Care?"  (If you'd like to read the lyrics, they may be found at:  http://nethymnal.org/htm/d/o/doesjeca.htm)  The song reminds us of the truth that God does care when things go wrong in our walk with Christ, when momentary weakness causes lifetime shame or pain, when we take our eyes off Christ and the world begins to loom heavy and dark. Pastor Dibaj understood the trials of daily life, and the storms of persecution.  He personally experienced the danger and ultimately his own martyrdom in loyalty to His Savior no matter what its cost.  Often when we do not expect it, we find ourselves carried through our own valley of the shadow of death, our low times, the times when our own strength fails and we stumble along the path.

We live our lives with our eyes on the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ (Philippians 3:14).  Straining toward that goal, we know that the path is not easy, the effort at times saps us of our energy, and our determination or motivation can sometimes be easily compromised.  Along the path, storms, winds, traffic and danger await.  Yet we know that we do not travel alone.  We travel with God (Acts 17:28; Philippians 2:13); Christ lives within us (Galatians 2:20) and the Holy Spirit guides us (Isaiah 30:21).  So we weather the storm, run the race, keep our eyes on Christ and live to serve God.  Don’t give up; remember:

I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress He kindly will help me;
He ever loves and cares for His own.*

He'll carry our burdens in our service.  In all of this, we have both hope and help--from God Himself!

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* Source:  http://nethymnal.org/htm/i/m/imustell.htm