Thursday, Week 5

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.
— 1 John 5:15 (BSB)

Only the prayer which comes from our heart can get to God’s heart.
— Charles Spurgeon

O Lord, You have taught us to cast our burden upon You, with the assurance that You will sustain us; and we beseech You to hear us tonight as we come with our burdens. Life is too hard for us. Duty is too great for us. We have no power of our own to do the things that it is our duty to do. We cannot meet our responsibilities. We have obligations to each other in our home. We owe duties to Your church, to society, to the state, to our friends, to the whole world. We are debtor to everyone, even to the heathen in dark lands. Who is sufficient for these things? We cannot carry the burden of our personal responsibility.

Then we have our burdens of duty. Temptation puts burdens upon us. The world's sorrow lays a heavy load upon our hearts. There are burdens, too, which belong to our condition, or our circumstances. It is hard for us to be holy. It is hard for us to go on, day after day, year after year, in the dreary rounds of our task-work. It is hard for us to endure life's frictions and irritations — and always keep sweet. It is hard for us to be patient with all kinds of people, in all sorts of trying experiences — never losing temper, never yielding to exasperating things.

We have our burdens which are hard to carry, our daily crosses which it is hard to take up and bear. We never could do it — but for the privilege of casting them upon You. We do not ask to have the burdens taken off, for it may be that we need to bear them, for the world's good, or our own; but we ask that You will sustain us, and that we may walk beneath our load quietly and confidently, leaning upon You. Help us, O God, and then we shall be able to bear our burdens without fainting, through Jesus Christ. Amen.