46:1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops;
Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle.
Your carriages were heavily loaded,
A burden to the weary beast.
2 They stoop, they bow down together;
They could not deliver the burden,
But have themselves gone into captivity.
3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Who have been upheld by Me from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
4 Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Idols of wood. Idols of stone.
Idols of silver. Idols of gold. They all have two things in common. They are
heavy and they don't move themselves. They must be carried. Judah was about to
have to flee the impending attack of foreign armies. Bad enough that their
useless idols couldn't deliver them, but to add insult to injury they had the
extra burden of having to haul these gods away to safety. God paints a picture
that they won't make it. The burden will be too heavy. Then He contrasts that
picture with a very different one. He says "I made you, I have carried you
this far, and I will carry you the rest of the way."
Before we consider what these
ancient words might mean for us I offer you the closing lyrics to "He
ain't heavy, he's my brother".
If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another
It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share?
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
He's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
When Jesus was here He made this
public statement to the people: "Come
to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matt. 11:28-30
Did you catch it?
In Isaiah God said the burden of
dragging these cumbersome and useless idols around was on the animals. Jesus
came and said we are the animals. We have the yoke on our neck. We are carrying
the heavy burden. What was He talking about and what was He offering?
Jesus also said this to the
people about the religious leaders and teachers: "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their
fingers." Matt. 23:4
Bad religion is a twofold curse.
It's useless and it's heavy.
All I can say with full assurance
is that if your religious experience is heavy it isn't from Jesus, it isn't
true, it's dragging you down, it isn't taking you anywhere, and it's useless.
Jesus said "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free and
you will be free indeed."
If whatever you believe is heavy,
put it down and search for the authentic Jesus, not some idol version of man's
making. You will find Him and you'll be free at last.
"You will search for Me and
you will find Me when you search with all your heart." - Jesus
He will carry you. You are not
heavy. You are His.
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