Scripture Daily

Context No. 2206 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 68:17-35: in context

17The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary. 18You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among people, yes, among the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell there. 19Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah. 20God is to us a God of deliverance. To GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness. 22The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea, 23that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.” 24They have seen your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines, 26“Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!” 27There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. 28Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us. 29Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring presents to you. 30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war. 31Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God. 32Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord—Selah— 33to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. 34Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies. 35You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!

In the midst of this psalm exalting God's greatness and his triumphant march, comes a line of surpassing tenderness. Amid the images of God's chariots and his ascent on high, the psalmist bursts out: Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our salvation. The great God who rides on the heavens and leads captives is the same God who, day by day, bears the burdens of his people, taking up their load and carrying it with them and for them.

The phrase to hold is this: the Lord daily bears our burdens. It is a picture of God not as distant from our struggles but as taking up our load and carrying it, and doing so daily, day after day, not once but continually. The burdens we carry, the weights of life, the cares and troubles that press on us, God bears with us and for us, taking them up each day. And the psalmist blesses him for it: blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens. The great God stoops to carry the daily loads of his people. This is a deep comfort for those who feel the weight of their burdens. Life lays burdens on us, and they can feel too heavy to carry, pressing us down, wearing us out. And the temptation is to believe we must bear them alone, shouldering the whole weight ourselves. This psalm says otherwise: the Lord daily bears our burdens. We do not carry them alone; God takes up our load and carries it with us, day by day. He does not merely watch us struggle under our burdens but bears them himself, taking the weight upon himself. Cast your burden on the LORD, another psalm says, and he will sustain you. God invites us to give him our burdens, and he bears them, daily, taking up the load we cannot carry alone. This changes how we bear the weights of life. We are not left to shoulder our burdens alone, crushed under a weight too heavy for us. God daily bears our burdens; we can cast them on him, give him our load, and let him carry it with us and for us, day by day. Come to me, Jesus says, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The God who daily bears our burdens invites us to bring them to him rather than carrying them alone. This calls us to give our burdens to the God who bears them. When the weights of life press on us and feel too heavy to carry, we need not shoulder them alone; the Lord daily bears our burdens, taking up our load and carrying it with us. And we are called to cast our burdens on him, to bring the weights we cannot carry to the God who bears them daily, and to bless him, as the psalmist did, for stooping to carry the loads of his people day by day.

When the weights of life press on me and feel too heavy to carry, do I believe I must shoulder them alone, crushed under a load too heavy for me, or can the psalmist's blessing, blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, move me to cast my burdens on the God who takes up my load and carries it with me and for me day by day, bringing the weights I cannot carry to the God who bears them, rather than struggling under them alone?

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