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

The “daily” here immediately calls to mind what Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) We tend to remember the big events in our lives, but they are lived out daily, one minute at a time. We have songs commemorating this reality, like, One Day at a Time, but sometimes we forget it in practical terms, and panic ensues. If we fail to remember that following God is a daily matter, we lay ourselves open to all sorts of traps of the devil. If we fail to remember that God is there for us every day, we are anxious and wear ourselves out with striving. In 2005 God gave Cathy a song that speaks to this:

Step by step, God is leading us into this land.
We His children are following His mighty plan.
We will go where He leads us, we will take our stand.
We will fight for His Kingdom, we will win Japan!
So arise, arise mighty army of God,
Stand together and proclaim His Word.
Put on His armor like Ephesians says,
And we’ll march out to victory.
God will give you every place where you set your foot.
God will be with you and never forsake you.
So be strong and courageous, you’ll inherit this land.
God will be with you.
Step by step God will see you through!

We want to vault ahead and skip all the “grunt work,” but that’s not how it works. Sometimes the steps are hard, sometimes they are painful, but every step is for our benefit and for the glory of God. It is as we carry our crosses daily that we discover that God is daily bearing our burdens, both with us and for us. To go back to something Jesus said, we have to come to Him before we can discover that His yoke is easy to bear and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:28:30)

We are in the middle of a big-time lesson in this, as we have a church bazaar that starts today. We have an amazing amount of stuff to sell, but not enough people to help in all the preparation and execution of what is involved. In consequence, Cathy and I are exhausted already, but couldn’t sleep because of all we think of that needs to be done. Part of the stress is that much of this is essentially an “estate sale,” but the person in question is still alive, just needing to downsize drastically. The emotional issues when she saw yesterday some of the things that are to be sold were intense. Cathy and I are learning what a prison “things” can be, and we’re having to think about our own accumulation. Things can be useful and even necessary in the short term, but they are all temporal and so of no eternal consequence. The way to avoid major issues like we are having now is in daily faithfulness, letting God show us what we need to have and do, and what we don’t need to have or do, each day. If we will live like that, we will indeed find He daily bears our burdens, so our part is truly light.

Father, thank You for this Word, and for the lessons in what we are going through now. Thank You that You will indeed get us through it all! Help us remember that indeed each moment of today, letting You replace our strength with Yours, (Isaiah 40:31) for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!