Take Your Burdens To The Lord…leave Them There!!!

His success in talk radio came about because many feel that he expressed on national radio what many Americans think and cannot express.

That is, he gave his listeners a voice to public express what they believed.

One reason many people like to read the Psalms in the Old Testament is because they feel that the Psalmist in his writings gives voice to how they feel.

For example, in our text the Psalmist said, “...Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”

The Psalmist is expressing what many people feel.

At times, as we face the difficulties of life, we all wish that we could sprout wings and just fly away from all the problems that surround our life.

This is why:

• Many enjoy going fishing to get away from all their problems.

• Many enjoy going camping to get away from their problems.

• Many enjoy golfing to get away from their problems.

• Many enjoy taking their spouse out for evening meal at some restaurant to get away from their problems.

• Many enjoy going to the mountains to get away from their problems.

• Many go shopping because it takes their mind off of their problems.

Speaking of getting away from everything…

Illus: Reminds me of the man who went to the bus station to purchase a ticket.

He walked up to the bus clerk and said, “I want to purchase a ticket.”

The clerk said, “Sir, that is what I am here for. Where do you wish to purchase a ticket too?"

The man said. “There isn't a bus I wouldn't take. I just want to get away from this place as fast as I can get away!”

This is the way many of us feel at times.

But sometimes running from our problems leads to bigger problems.

Illus: Remember Jonah in the Old Testament?

God told him to go to Nineveh but instead he chose to run from the problems in Nineveh and flee to Tarshish.

Jonah’s reason for running was that he did not like the Assyrians. Assyria was an idolatrous, proud, and ruthless nation bent on world conquest and had long been a threat to Israel. When God sent Jonah as a missionary to the capital, Nineveh, the prophet balked. At the end of his story, Jonah specifies his reason for resistance in Jonah 4:2: “That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. In other words, Jonah wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. He felt they deserved God’s judgment. Jonah didn’t want to see God’s mercy extended to his enemies, and he knew in his heart that God’s intention was to show mercy.

Jonah discovered that God’s salvation is available to all who repent, not just to the people of Jonah’s choosing. So he fled Tarshish and went to Nineveh.

Jonah later found out running brought him a bigger problem then he had when he was swallowed by a whale.

Illus: I know a woman that was married to good hard working Christian man. She watched these slop operas on television each day while he was working.

After watching these slop operas she decided she did not want to be married anymore. She caught her husband blind sided and told him she wanted a divorce.

They got a divorce and she lived in sin for a couple of years.

She later told her best friend I made the biggest mistake I ever made when I divorced my husband. She told her friend if he would take me back I would wash his feet every night.

She tried to go back to him but after being hurt by her he said, I WILL NEVER HAVE HER BACK!

The devil can make sin look attractive and flee into a life of sin. BUT IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME WE WILL SEE THAT HE IS A DECEIVER.

The psalmist was hurt in many ways and he said, Oh if I was only a bird and had wings and fly away.

But flying away from our problems is not the answer.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

But how often we RUN when we should TRUST!!!

Let’s think about fleeing…

I. WHAT WE ARE FLEEING FROM

Illus: In 1993, there used to be a television program called, “The fugitive”.

The plot of the weekly series was about Dr. Richard Kimble, who was unjustly accused of killing his wife.

Each week the program was filled with excitement in two ways.