A Helping Hand!!

By Helen Jesze, 26^th January 2024

Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].

Galatians 6:2 AMP

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

KJV

… Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Galatians 6:1b-6 The MESSAGE Bible

Taking advantage of the sunny weather after days of rain, I made my way to the shops. When I had finished my shopping, I popped into a cafe for a snack. While I waited for my order, I ‘people-watched’ – one of my favourite pasttimes!! Some hurried along, intent on some purpose, others ran for the bus, some sauntered and took their time, looking into the shop-windows. Then I saw them, a middle-aged couple, a man and woman carrying a large heavy-looking bag between them. Each held a strap and the load was divided.

Immediately the above Bible verse popped into my mind. You may have heard the phrase: “A burden shared is a burden halved.” Usually one person carries one bag and they take all the load. If it is heavy, they may have to lean over to balance the weight; it may be exhausting. But these two had the right idea, I thought! I watched them walking along together, then a group of people came from the opposite direction, and as they just happened to be passing a mobility shop with large mobility-scooters standing outside, their progress was impeded.

I wondered if they would push through the people, but this would have been difficult as they both held a strap of the bag. Or would one of them let go and let the other take all the weight? They did neither of these things, they just stepped aside and patiently waited until the group of people had gone by, then resumed their walk. We too, when we are helping someone, need patience, a sense of responsibility and wisdom as obstacles will come across our path to prevent us doing this.

This bag was a physical burden, and in the above picture, we see a young man kindly helping an elderly lady with her bags. But there are other types of burdens where we need a helping hand or much deeper help; these can be mental, emotional, spiritual, relationship or financial burdens where we feel loaded down and don’t seem to have the strength to carry them or go on, from day to day.

Sometimes it’s a hand we need to help carry our burdens; sometimes it’s a listening ear, a loving, prayerful heart, a taking time to listen to the sorrow and despair bursting from somebody’s life, which is needed. Sometimes it is practical or financial help which we have the opportunity to give. The Amplified Bible’s translation says that if we do help to carry another’s burdens, we will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ – that being the law of Christian love.

The Message Bible encourages us to ‘stoop down and reach out’ to people who are oppressed. It requires effort on our part to do this. It may interrupt our schedule or what we think we should be doing, but if God puts this challenge in our path, then we must make the decision to stop and help, or pass on with the hope that someone else will bear the burden. To be ‘oppressed’ means to be weighed down, to be pushed down, to not have strength because of something or someone or some regime is keeping us under or captive. Jesus came to set free all who were oppressed of the devil, and if we are his blood-bought children, then we should also seek to help those who are oppressed. We cannot help everybody, but we can all help someone.

Then there are some Christians who seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, and get bogged down trying to help everyone. I remember when I was twenty years old and working in the T.L.Osborn Evangelistic Assn. office in Birmingham. My main job was to read the thousands of letters which came in for prayer. We were short-staffed and later four people did the job I was doing alone. With months of overtime, plus some difficult personal problems I was facing, and being bombarded with the terrible needs I read about every day, one day I had a nervous breakdown. It seemed to me that everyone was terribly sick or demon- possessed – which of course, they were not, but I had become snowed under with these needs and could not see further.

Jesus healed me later, showing me several things which had led to this breakdown. One was that God never intended me to become a spiritual or mental beast of burden, carrying all these needs myself – I had to learn to commit them to the Lord, point to the ONE TRUE ANSWER – which was the risen glorified Jesus Christ, the power of his Word and Name and the power in his Blood, to set people free. Another thing God showed me was that I was giving out more spiritually than I was taking in. Our reserves soon run out! We can only give out what we have taken in first.

I’d like to encourage you today to help to bear someone’s burden. As you give out to help others, God will give back to you in your time of need. Or if you are the person who is tremendously burdened at the moment, let me encourage you to hold on to the Father’s promises. He has promised: “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved,” Psalm 55:22. With Jesus, there is always light at the end of the tunnel, always HOPE for a NEW DAY!

Prayer: Thank you Heavenly Father, for the many times that people have helped us, carried our burdens, been the answer to our prayers. Thank you for the many times that you have lifted our burdens and showered your love upon us.

Help us to have an open heart, a watchful eye and ear to see those whom you have put in our path, that we might have the privilege of helping to lift their burdens. Equip us anew today, we pray, with your love, and the power of your Holy Spirit, helping us to fulfil the law of your Love. We praise you and ask this in the Name of Jesus, Amen.