Cast Your Burdens

So many of the Psalms speak to my heart. One of my favorites is “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee” (Psalm 55:22). When you really stop to analyze it, that statement is all you need in order to be filled with hope.

First look at the word cast.  It means, “To deposit (a ballot) formally” or “To throw off or away.” So we can deposit our burdens with the Lord or we can throw them away. Both imply that we give them up completely, and walk away from them. In other words, we stop worrying about them.

Next look at the word sustain. It means, “To supply with sustenance or nourishment.” “To give support or relief to.” “To support the weight of.” “To bear up under.”

That last definition is especially insightful to me and takes us back to the original Latin word from which we get the word sustain, sustinere, which is a combination of sub-meaning “below” and tenere which means “to hold up.” Thus we see that the original literal definition is “to hold up from below.”

So to cast my burdens means I turn them over to the Lord so I am free from their cumbersome weight, but in addition to that since I have now put my trust in Him, he will now “hold me up” or carry me. Thus besides being unburdened, He takes me on as His burden and I have none not even my own support. He will sustain, nourish, support, and bear me up. What more could I ask for?