Day 27 of 30

He Carries Your Sorrows

From the Peace in Chaos devotional series

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows."

— Isaiah 53:4

Reflection

Pick up something heavy in the room with you right now — a book, a full water bottle, a bag. Hold it in your dominant hand at arm's length. Read this paragraph slowly while you do. This is what unprocessed grief feels like in the body — manageable for a minute, then a low ache, then a tremor, then exhaustion. Most of us are walking through our days with the equivalent of three of these objects held out at arm's length, and we have stopped noticing because we have been doing it so long. The Hebrew verb translated "carried" is the word used for a beast of burden lowering itself so cargo can be transferred. Christ has already lowered Himself. The transfer has been made available. The thing most of us are missing is not theology — it is permission. Permission to set the weight down. You can put the object down now.

Prayer

Set the object down. Sit in the silence afterward. The silence is the prayer.

Peace Challenge

Identify the specific grief you have been holding at arm's length — it usually has a name, a face, a season, or a sentence attached to it. Tonight, write it on a single sheet of paper. Read it aloud once. Then place the paper under a Bible, a candle, or any object that will physically sit on top of it overnight. The grief is not gone in the morning — but you have practiced, with your hands, the act of letting something else carry it for a few hours.