Our Burden-Bearing God
by Sue Towne
Isaiah chapter 46 opens with these verses:
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.
That last word, beast, does not actually appear in the Hebrew text. Bel and Nebo were Babylonian gods. Bel (Marduk) was the chief god of Babylon. Nebo was his son. The words in these verses describe idols being carried by beasts of burden. The passage continues:
They stoop, they bow down together; They could not deliver the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.
Isaiah is saying here that the chief god of Babylon and his son are nothing but heavy idols, literally “a burden to the weary.” Not only could this father and son not deliver anyone from the burden of captivity, but both Bel and Nebo had gone into captivity, too!
In verses 3-4 the God of Israel then speaks a contrasting message:
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; 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.
This is our God. The God who delivers us from burdens. The God who does not have to be carried or carted around like an idol. Instead, He carries us through hard times, through calamities, through trials. He is a deliverer who saves. Isn’t it marvelous that Isaiah uses the example of father-son false gods to contrast with the true and living God, whom we know to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
The true Son of God is named Yeshua, meaning “deliverance.” In Matthew 11 Yeshua tells us, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He asks us to take His “yoke,” like the beasts of burden we read about in Isaiah 46. But He assures us that His burden is light, not heavy. Why? Because He is always helping us to carry any burden He gives us, even the work He calls us to do.
As intercessors we sometimes say we have a “burden” from the Lord to pray. That may be so but make certain that this burden does not become “heavy.” Even when we are burdened for intercession, let Him do the carrying.
Prayer is never measured by the number of words we speak or the time we spend in travail or in tongues, or even by the intense emotion of our experience—as wonderful as that is. Prayer is about being in the middle of what God is doing in the earth. It’s about being in agreement with Heaven’s agenda.
If you’re in that place with Him in intercession, He will see to it that you have everything you need to complete your assignment, and your burden will be light.
He will carry you!
—Sue Towne, Messianic Vision International Prayer Coordinator