"CAST THY BURDEN UPON THE LORD, AND HE SHALL SUSTAIN THEE."-Ps. lv. 22.

HERE we have expressed, in very plain and simple language, the confidence of a man of God. It was the confidence of David in David's God. But there is nothing about it peculiar to the King of Israel. It has been the experience of countless thousands, both before and since his days. Life's trials have been lightened, and even its very deepest sorrows lit up with peace and joy, for those who have entered into the meaning of what is conveyed in the words of the text. The humblest and weakest believer may make it all his own. The only secret connected with it is this: that those who desire to experience the strength and consolation which David knew under sorrow must be careful to exercise David's faith.

The words are not those of mere religious theory. They are, like so many of the exhortations contained in Holy Scripture, not only words of Divine inspiration, given as a matter of doctrine, but they contain the inspired expression of actual and realised experience. They are the words of one who knew so well what sorrow was. Indeed, they fell from a heart-broken man. But not that alone; they came,

not only from a bitter experience of sorrow, but also from the equally real experience of rest under the heavy blow.

Let us refer to the circumstances under which the Psalm was written. It is generally agreed that it was connected with one of the heaviest sorrows of David's life. The his

tory is given in 2 Samuel xv. His well-beloved son Absalom was in rebellion against him, seeking to dethrone him and reign in his stead.

Everything around looked very black for the King; Absalom had won the heart of the men of Israel from his father by fair promises and unbecoming flattery. They were prepared to support the rebellious son. And more than this, one of David's special friends, the well-trusted counsellor, Ahitophel, whose advice he was accustomed to regard as “the oracle of God” (2 Sam. xvi. 23), had openly forsaken him, and was in alliance with Absalom. Such opposition was too much for the king. He could make no stand against it. Nothing remained for him but to seek safety in flight. Very touching is the description of his departure from Jerusalem, and it should be carefully read in connection with the Psalm.

It was under such circumstances as these that faith in God so marvellously upheld him. He gave perhaps the most convincing proof that it was possible for him to give, that his faith and hope were both alike fixed so simply and yet so confidently upon the living God.

Let us see what it was. It appears that Zadok and Abiathar remained faithful to his cause, and shared with him his exile. Before leaving the city, they had secured the Ark of God and carried it with them. This was the outward sign of Jehovah's presence with His people; and it was a rallying point round which, at any time, the men of Israel might have gathered. It was, so far as human calculations go, a positive advantage to have had it. The possessor of

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it might fairly be considered, in a nation like that of Israel, to have the best of any struggle for the throne. One would have thought that it would have been an untold source of comfort to David in his sore distress, not only as reminding him that God was with him, but also as being a reason for looking forward to restoration and victory. Nor are we prepared to say that it would have been wrong in him to have retained it.

He, however, would have no outward source of confidence and rest. For his own sake, and for their sakes who were with him, he preferred to lean only upon the person. of the living God, that, whatever might result, it could be recognised at once as the expression of His will upon the 'subject. He sent back the Ark to Jerusalem. "Carry back," he said, "the Ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again, and show me both it and His habitation. But if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him."

What perfect confidence in God! He gives up all His future into His hands. There may be success and restoration before him, or there may be still further sorrow; but, anyway, he chooses that which seems good to the Lord, and trusts Him to bring it about. Here is a practical exhibition from the man himself, and, therefore, far more valuable than any words of comment, of what he intended when he wrote, as the expression of his own experience, and for the comfort of every tried and sorrowful soul, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord." He has thus recorded, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, where he found rest for his soul; and he has pointed out the source from which refreshment and peace may be drawn under every burden which can oppress the human heart.

We will now consider the "burdens" which are to be

cast upon the Lord. We have seen the special application of that text to the heavy weight of sorrowful and trying circumstances, and we shall shortly return to this. But there is a principle expressed in it of much wider extent.

The word in the original language which we translate by "burden" is a very special one. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and scholars are somewhat divided as to its exact translation. In the old authorised Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, generally known as the Septuagint, it is rendered by "care." It is "Roll upon the Lord thy care," and St. Peter quotes these very words in his first Epistle (chap. v. 7), in reference to all the trying perplexities of life.

This, no doubt, very well expresses the meaning of the Psalmist. But, in the opinion of most competent scholars, the word in the original passage means that which is laid upon one; each one's appointed portion; and in the margin of our Bibles we find the words, "or, gift."

This leads us to a very wide application of the text. We must limit it in no direction at all. It extends over the entire life-portion of every child of God, viewed as a whole; and, as a matter of course, it includes every detail of the life, considered separately and alone. Whether it be joy, or whether it be sorrow, it must be "rolled upon the Lord;" and we may say in passing, what we cannot stay now to enlarge upon and enforce, that it is as needful to carry our joys to the Lord as it is to carry our sorrows.

But the special reference in the promise before us is that of perplexing sorrow. Let us think of this for a moment in connection with the remarks just made upon the meaning of the word translated by "burden." We get such a deep and beautiful view of our trials and sorrows. David looked upon his heavy sorrow as his portion or appointed lot. He was no believer in blind chance or dismal fatalism. What he meant by his lot was what the hand of God had provided

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specially for him. He realised that truth which the modern poet has so beautifully put into words

"Father, I know that all my life

Is portioned out for me;

And the changes that are sure to come

I do not fear to see.'

This was no mere theory with him, as it is with so many. It was part of his very life; he held it as a reality with every power of his being, and in spite of all that might appear to the contrary. Indeed, it was just when all seemed to the contrary that his faith stood out at its brightest, and he clung to his confidence all the more earnestly as his strength and support under the blow. And this is the real advantage of faith; to shine out when it is really needed, instead of giving way, as that of so many does, just when it ought to support them.

And while we take this view of the whole outline of our lives, let us take it very specially of all that perplexes or tries us. Never let us "receive " good as from "the hand of God," and not be equally ready to receive, as from the same source, what we call our "evil" (Job ii. 10).

It is so necessary to get right and clear upon this point, before we can fully understand the deepest meaning of what is conveyed by the words of the text. Before we can roll the burden upon the Lord," it is so important to realise first, that it is, after all, only what has come from His hand. What is heartily recognised as from Him, can so confidently be carried to Him. And thus it is that sorrow brings about the real and blessed result for which it is sent.

A careful observer of human nature will have noticed the two very opposite effects which sorrow and trial produce upon the heart. Sorrow, disappointment, and every sort of trial, if not accepted from God, nor really carried to Him,