Cast Your Burden on the Lord

by Mike Ratliff

12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my familiar friend;
14 We who had sweet fellowship together
Walked in the house of God in the throng. Psalms 55:12-14 (NASB) 

As the great Apostasy of the Church deepens and widens it seems that even those we once looked up to as solid and faithful servants of the Most High are slipping into unbelief. It is these failures that seem to strike the hardest at our hearts. We even begin to wonder, “Who’s next?” However, we must not become consumed with discouragement because of this. Yes, it should make us sorrowful, but we must not allow the lack of faithfulness by people to affect our walk with the Lord. Our role model is Jesus Christ. We should look to Him alone as our rock and firm foundation, not other people. Men will always let us down eventually.

We are fooling ourselves if we believe that persecution is not coming upon the Western Church. In every other part of the world Christians lose status in their society when they are saved. Their lives do not automatically become better when they profess Christ. Instead, they are seen as second-class citizens because of their faith. Here in the West, we exist in a climate of spiritual bankruptcy and easy-believism that is the product of decades of man-loving semi-pelagianism that has sucked the spiritual life out of the Church.

Our Lord said that to follow Him is costly, but in the West, it requires hardly any commitment at all. Christianity is seen as an add-on to ones life instead of what actually defines it. However, those in our culture who do take a stand for truth and attempt to live as Christ directs will find that they are no longer seen as “normal.” In fact, even in their churches, they will find there is a great deal of resistance to that level of commitment. Those who stand against this will soon be excluded and shunned. Why? The Western Church acts like the world because the world is in it. The world cannot tolerate true, genuine Christianity. It has no problem with empty religion, but Christ’s disciples who live out their faith as led by the Lord, will be at odds with the worldly.

1 Give ear to my prayer, O God;
And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
2 Give heed to me and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me
And in anger they bear a grudge against me. Psalms 55:1-3 (NASB) 

Psalm 55 is a Maskil of David. Commentators believe he wrote it to reflect on the time when his son Absalom, helped by David’s friend Ahithophel, rebelled against him. Let us look at how David reacted when those who used to worship with him have now turned on him and seek his destruction.

4 My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
And horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 “Behold, I would wander far away,
I would lodge in the wilderness.
Selah. Psalms 55:4-7 (NASB) 

When I left my old church back in 2006, it was actually the culmination of well over a year of constant frustration and agonizing over the resistance of some of the people there to the truth from God’s Word that spoke of the level of commitment that God was showing me that His people must have as they walk before Him. Since that had little or nothing to do with being religious, but with being obedient and Spirit-led, it was not a popular message. The last six months there were agonizing for me. No matter what I taught or shared, I was put down. I was excluded. I was seen as a troublemaker. Our Pastor had every man in the Deacon’s Bible study class, except me, preach on alternating Sunday’s for a couple of months. I didn’t ask why, but the next time the Pastor preached, he made sure to stare at me when he preached that Man’s Free Will trumped the Sovereignty of God. When I left because he started implementing the Purpose Driven Church stuff I have never felt so devastated in my life. I wanted God to kill me and take me home.

8 “I would hasten to my place of refuge
From the stormy wind and tempest.”
9 Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around her upon her walls,
And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.
11 Destruction is in her midst;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.
12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my familiar friend;
14 We who had sweet fellowship together
Walked in the house of God in the throng.
15 Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst. Psalms 55:8-15 (NASB) 

I was not physically threatened in any way. I was only silenced. However, what we must remember is that when the Great Apostasy comes into fruition, those turning on us will be the religious professing Christians who have believed the lie. Not all who profess Christ actually have Him. Those who do have Him will not believe the lie. However, they will be treated as an enemy of that lie that has been accepted as the truth.

16 As for me, I shall call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur,
And He will hear my voice.
18 He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,
For they are many who strive with me.
19 God will hear and answer them—
Even the one who sits enthroned from of old—
Selah.
With whom there is no change,
And who do not fear God. Psalms 55:16-19 (NASB) 

Our only hope is in God, our Lord. We must seek Him alone. We must keep our eyes on Jesus alone as we continue to walk in obedience. Those who are in darkness, but believe they are in the light, will persecute those who do not conform to the lie. They will believe they are the ones serving God, but will be actually persecuting those who really do. To believe this won’t happen in the West is being very naive.

20 He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;
He has violated his covenant.
21 His speech was smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
23 But You, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in You. Psalms 55:20-23 (NASB) 

We must cast all of our hope on God, not other people. Those who will turn on us are those with whom we used to worship. Our Lord will sustain us. We may be persecuted horribly in an attempt to make us recant, but those the Lord upholds will never stumble or fall.

Within that context, I have witnessed since the COCID-19 “Pandemic” something I never thought I would see, which are professing Christians panicking about this virus and believing the hype about it to the point that they have fallen in line with those attempting to control the masses with fear by forcing everyone to wear a cloth mask in public and all that goes with that. I have been “reprimanded” by more former online “friends” than I care to count because I refuse to live in fear. These same people profess to be Christians yet they have believed the lie that we must all obey these government rules about the masks and social distancing, etc. and if Christians don’t then the virus will never go away, which, medically, is exactly the opposite of how things really work. And that includes keeping our churches closed. Who is being persecuted here? God is Sovereign. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Immutable. Why are “christians” believing the COVID-19 hype and living in fear when they supposedly believe in our God?

Soli Deo Gloria!