Sack of Woes

“Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making” Proverbs 16:11.

Back in the days of the Old Testament, ‘merchants carried stones of different sizes with them to weigh and measure quantities for silver for payment.’ NIV Study Bible, p. 980. It was essential for the exact weight to be appropriated for each person to get what they deserved.

We are no different as we gather with others bringing our stones of different sizes. We look to others and determine that our stones of burden weigh more and deserve more attention. We drag our spiritual bags up to our self-made scales, throwing them on the surface. We determine that the challenges of others are merely pebbles and that somehow the weightiness of our hearts will always trump others. We measure our circumstances against the circumstances of others with scales that are out of balance. The reality of our life is built with the preception of our mind.
 

God either sends or allows the challenges in our lives to grow us spiritually, letting the circumstances do its work in transforming us more in Christ likeness. He alone determines what we face and of what our lives are comprised according to what we need. We allow our bag of burdens to become an anchor around our necks, bringing others down with us. We were never meant to drag a sack of woes behind us, but to surrender our burdens to the LORD with honest and balanced hearts. It is only through this surrender that we come in for the Matthew 11:28-29 blessing. ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

Our bags will carry the same lessons until we learn once and for all that God is equitable…fair…and His love endures forever.