Every one to his service and to his burden. - Numbers 4:19
Is this what the Apostle referred to when he said that every man should bear his own burden? There are burdens which we cannot share or depute, to bear which we need special grace, and must continually seek the aid of the Divine Spirit.
The burden of our own existence. - Each of us must give an account of himself to God. We were created for a specific purpose; and our failure to fulfill it cannot be settled on another. God will require each man's soul of himself. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom 14:12). You have a charge to keep, a soul to save, and a God to glorify.
The burden of our life-work. - What makest thou in the world? The Maker of all waits for thee to enter His great workshop and become His apprentice and co-worker. To be an idler, or an absentee, will land thee in inevitable disgrace. The appointed place cannot be left vacant, and thy tools untouched, save at thy grave peril.
The burden of the souls of others. - We are our brothers' keepers, liable at any moment to be called upon to give an account of how they fare; and we cannot rid ourselves of this responsibility by annual donations or subscriptions to charitable or missionary institutions.
The burden of daily intercession. - Jesus bears the burdens of His people as He intercedes for them in heaven; and there is a sense in which we are called to bear up His hands in this holy service. We must consider the work of daily prayer for His Church, for sufferers, and for the world, as part of the burden of the Lord, allotted to us because we are members of His body.
