Are you a pack mule?

Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin. (Psalm 55:22)

Have you been all tied up in carrying your own load, my friends? I know I get there now and again, forgetting to lay down that load and just allowing more and more to be plopped on top of what already weighs me down. My load isn't too heavy - it is just that I wasn't meant to carry it! When we aren't meant to carry the load, it will always seem like a burden. Do you know what a pack mule is? It is bred for the purpose of carrying loads. It is less stubborn than a donkey, but hardier than a horse. They are surefooted, quite intelligent, and very cautious. That means they can carry the burden, while paying close attention to where they put their feet. A pack mule is bred to carry that burden - you are not. You may be intelligent, but do you always pay close attention, knowing exactly where you are going and how to get there? 

If you are anything like me, the answer to that one is 'no'. In fact, you probably stumble along like I do and find yourself out on the edge from time to time, not very surefooted and getting a little wigged-out by the footing crumbling away beneath you. That is because we weren't 'bred' to be carrying that burden! We were 'bred' to lay it down - to allow the one who is most able to carry it take it squarely upon HIS shoulders. We use pack mules because they are able to make the passage where we could not. Why do we resist allowing God to carry the burden while we struggle to make the passage we know full-well we are not going to make on our own? Maybe it is because we are as stubborn as a donkey!

Do you know where the mule has the greatest benefit? In the 'roadless regions' of the world. Do you ever feel like you are cutting a new path - in a place not traveled before? If we use a beast of burden for those 'roadless regions', why do we resist allowing God to take our burden when we are traveling 'regions' where we have never traveled before? It doesn't take a genius to acknowledge the foolishness of trying to bear the burden on a path we aren't equipped to travel with that weight upon our shoulders. It takes a humble person to admit they need help and therein is the 'rub'. We don't like to admit we cannot do it on our own. What silliness is it to bear up under what another actually desires to carry! Just sayin!