You’ve carried it long enough

Zephaniah 3:18

The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you;  they are a burden and a reproach to you.  NIV

I don’t know much about the feasts that were celebrated by Israel.  I do know that there were many of them and that each had special significance.  I also know that they have significance in foretelling the second coming … that’s about it.

But, it was when I looked at this verse in The Message that I realized it holds yet another reminder not to worry.  “The accumulated sorrows of your exile will dissipate.  I, your God, will get rid of them for you.  You’ve carried those burdens long enough.” MSG

The accumulated sorrows of your exile … I love that.

Throughout my life, my relationship to God has ebbed and flowed.  God is the same, yesterday, today and always, but I have not always walked as close to Him as I should have.  In those times of self-imposed exile, I accumulated quite a basket of sorrows.  It is easy to do as this verse suggests, and to shoulder those burdens each morning.

But, God reminds me here that I don’t have to carry them.  In fact, I’ve carried them long enough.

So, today I will set down that basket of worries, once and for all.  I will unpack each one, and give it to God.

Today is a new day.

As I empty out my basket, I know that the temptation will be great to fill it with new worries, or even to put the old ones back in.  The trick will be to leave the basket sitting there and to walk away.  I don’t have to carry it … or any worries.  I am a redeemed child of God.

That’s what I’ll think about today.