The Broader Shoulders

GOD HAS big shoulders. There is a saying my mother sometimes quotes, “The one with the broader shoulders takes the blame.” She is jesting. Often, at my dad’s expense. Yet, in the light of these thoughts, there is a truth to it. It is not that we blame God for the weight of the world, but that He is God and, therefore, carries it. Carried it. Jesus carried the weight of sin on Himself to the cross, the Holy Spirit enabling Him to bear this great burden. At the same time, with all the chaos and corruption, sickness and disease, child abuse, theft and murder, what feels like too much for anything to hold, God does. And He is not wearied by it, in the sense of physical or mental weariness. He is not distressed by it, though He is tenderhearted and mourns our continued troubles. After all, He’s provided the way of escape.

This promise is in the Scriptures, but it’s been misused by some to paint God taking us through more difficult places to teach us something. The God of the Old Covenant, the God of the Old Testament prophets, has laid down anger and wrath in favor of mercy. He has no desire to be angry and no reason any longer. For where He sees trauma, where He sees difficulties, and yes, sins, He sees the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, living forever on the altar of heaven. That there is an altar and Christ’s blood, the entirety of it, can be proven through Scriptures.

Many times, I have said, “Thy Word is truth,” when nothing made sense to me, and I opened the Bible and found what I needed. It is a sure foundation, a lasting heritage of divine thought given to us to reassure us, to give us hope, and to forever display the love of God. I like that it’s black-and-white and there are no areas of gray. There are always questions within me, but God has the answers and promises to share His wisdom. I like, too, that it says He knows me so intimately that I never have to explain “me.” He knows what I am going to say before I say it and knows the intents of my heart. He has the broader shoulders and promises to carry the weight that I stumble with on my own. The devil adds to it, constantly barraging me with doubts about the future and condemnation for the past. I have heard him and turned again to what God has said. He has no condemnation for me. He came to save me, to love me, and not to bury me with guilt.

He saw me when I was in my mother’s womb and cherished me. This promise is in one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 139. Such a beautiful thought, that little ol’ me was valuable enough to Him that He would know me today. And I have come to know Him as the Gentle Shepherd. Oh, he has a Lion of Judah side, but so much of what we paint of Him as the angry warrior is held way beneath the Prince of Peace. That’s what He promised to His disciples, when facing the cross. He knew He would die a cruel, painful death, yet He said, “Peace is my bequest to you, and the peace which I will give you is mine to give; I do not give peace as the world gives it. Do not let your heart be distressed, or play the coward (John 14:27.)” That’s the Knox Translation. I love that it speaks Jesus will and authority to us. He was speaking the words of the Father, but from His earliest age, He learned of His role on the earth until He’d come into His ministry as the Son of God and the King of Kings. Still, when speaking of God the Father, He said His Father was greater than He was (John 14:28). What an awe-inspiring thought!

And looking at all that He’s done, from the creation of the world and the life of men in His image and His likeness, to the story of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and the vast plethora of miracles done by His mighty power and strength, we can know for sure that whatever we’re up against, either personally or nationally or in any place, He willingly takes the weight. Whatever is spoken for Him or against Him, He does not change.

“How should we take any account of him, a man so despised? Our weakness, and it was he who carried the weight of it, our miseries, and it was he who bore them.” (Isaiah 53:4, Knox)

Image by Raquel Candia from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com