What Are You Carrying?
- Beverly Ward
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
If you've been feeling weary lately, your first thought might be, "I'm doing too much."
And maybe you are.
But perhaps the better question isn't, "Am I doing too much?"
Perhaps it's, "Am I carrying too much?"
Some burdens are easy to see. A demanding job. Caring for a loved one with a disability or aging parents. Walking through illness, grief, or an adult child's addiction.
But some of the heaviest burdens are invisible.
The pressure to keep everyone happy.
The need to control every outcome.
The weight of expectations.
The unspoken belief that everything depends on us.
Long ago, the prophet Isaiah painted a remarkable picture of the difference between carrying and being carried.
Isaiah 46 opens with Isaiah's prophecy of the coming fall of Babylon. He paints a striking picture. Babylon's mighty gods, Bel and Nebo, are loaded onto pack animals and carried away into captivity. The very gods the Babylonians trusted to protect them, guide them, and secure their future are revealed to be utterly helpless, entirely dependent on others and powerless to prevent their own captivity.
Then the one true God addresses His people:
"Listen to me... you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He... I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." (Isaiah 46:3–4)
What a breathtaking contrast.
The false gods had to be carried and could not even save themselves.
The one true God carries His people, sustains them, and rescues them.
Isaiah wasn't simply exposing Babylon's idols. He was revealing a timeless truth about every false savior we are tempted to trust.
We may not bow before carved images today, but we can still look to things that cannot carry us to do what only God can do. Anything we trust in place of God eventually becomes a burden we have to carry ourselves.
Success.
Control.
Approval.
Productivity.
Self-sufficiency.
None of these things are inherently bad. They are often good gifts from God. The problem begins when we look to them for the security, identity, peace, or significance that only God can provide. Instead of receiving these gifts with gratitude, we begin depending on them.
Success becomes our identity.
Control becomes our source of peace.
Approval becomes our measure of worth.
Productivity becomes our proof that we matter.
Self-sufficiency becomes our confidence.
Before long, we find ourselves carrying the very things we hoped would carry us.
As counselors, we often meet people who assume their exhaustion comes from everything they have to do. Sometimes that's true. Just as often, though, they are weary because of everything they believe they have to carry.
They carry responsibilities that don't belong to them.
They carry guilt from yesterday.
They carry anxiety about tomorrow.
They carry expectations that God never placed on them.
Beneath many of those burdens is a quiet but powerful assumption:
It's up to me.
It's up to me to fix this.
It's up to me to hold everything together.
It's up to me to make sure everything turns out okay.
Without realizing it, we begin carrying responsibilities that belong to God alone.
Trusting God doesn't mean we stop caring or stop acting responsibly. It means we stop believing that everything ultimately depends on us.
We work diligently, but we entrust the outcome to God.
We love the people in our lives deeply, but we entrust them to God.
We plan wisely, but we submit our plans to God.
We faithfully carry the responsibilities He has given us, while leaving in His hands the responsibilities that belong to Him alone.
That is why Isaiah's words are so freeing.
God doesn't simply offer us strength.
He offers Himself.
"I have made you."
"I will carry you."
"I will sustain you."
"I will rescue you."
Those are not our responsibilities.
They are His.
Perhaps a question worth sitting with today is: What am I carrying?
Am I carrying responsibilities God never gave me?
Expectations He never placed on me?
Burdens He never asked me to bear?
Lay down whatever you've been carrying that has quietly taken the place of trusting God.
The one true God is unlike every false savior we are tempted to trust.
He does not ask you to carry Him.
He offers to carry you.
The Lagniappe
Enjoy "Leaning On The Everlasing Arams" by the phenominal Stephen McWhirter
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