Have you ever felt the weight of life physically pressing down on your shoulders? I know I have. In between starting a new semester at school, navigating transitions in my community, and caring well for the family and friends around me, this month has been filled with plenty of emotions, both good and hard. Ultimately, I’m facing the challenge of what it means to actually live my life for God in this season, with the people and circumstances right here in front of me.

 

Sometimes, I wish that it was always easy — that I had the “right” answers to help hurting friends, that I knew how to manage my time well without hyperfocusing on performance and perfection, that I didn’t seem to miss so many opportunities to encourage people around me. It’s easy to begin to carry the weight of the world — in lots of small ways that add up — on my own shoulders, in hopes of somehow making things easier for everyone else.

 

In one sense, I am called as a follower of Jesus to bear the burdens of those around me (Galatians 6:2). I get to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15), and there’s beauty in doing both of those things and still praying for the peace of God no matter the situation. I fully believe that Jesus meets us in places where life feels heavy and like too much for us to handle — and He values our compassion. He spent His life on earth meeting people in the midst of their pain and bringing His healing and truth into their lives, and changed so many people forever as a result.

 

Yet even as we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others, we aren’t called to do it alone. Jesus went first, carrying our burdens long before we ever did.

 

Isaiah 53 is chapter of Scripture that shares about the kind of life Jesus would lead and the sacrifice He would make long before it ever happened. Lately, in the midst of challenging circumstances in life, it’s taken on a special meaning to me. The passage begins by explaining how the suffering servant — Jesus — grew up in the presence of the Lord, but yet was rejected by most of the world. He was known as a “man of sorrows” — someone who was acquainted with deep grief and let that grief show to the people around Him. He was rejected by those who should have accepted Him, and instead, those people turned their backs on Him.

 

As the chapter goes on, however, it reveals one true miracle of the weight Jesus’ sacrifice carried. Verses 4-6 explain, “Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down… He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.”

 

Long before I ever faced this new season of trying to navigate transitions, relationships, and new environments, Jesus knew what it was like to carry the weight of the world on His shoulders. He felt — and still feels, through His Spirit living in me — the grief and sadness I feel for people I care about and the struggle it is to carry the weight of wanting to do everything right. Yet He doesn’t leave me with this weight; He carries it. He carries my weakness, my sorrow, my worry and fear — it’s a burden that I was always meant to give back to Him.

 

Today, no matter what circumstances you’re facing in your own life, I encourage you to take a few minutes to sit with this passage. Think about any burdens you feel like you’re carrying and how you can more fully give them to Jesus. Yes, it’s not wrong to feel the weight of the world and hard things going on — but how we respond to it is what shows where our faith rests. Can we trust Jesus enough, knowing the suffering and grief that He’s experienced, to let Him have our burdens?