There are many burdens that weigh heavily on man, so that St. Paul said, even when he was sealed by the Holy Ghost: ‘We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened.’ There are burdens on the strength when a man has to toil beyond his powers: burdens on the heart when we feel a weight of sorrow as we witness the sufferings of those we love: burdens on the thoughts when some heavy care rests upon us, and produces depression of spirits: and, above all, burdens on the conscience when the sense of sin troubles us, when we know we have been wrong, and when the present conviction of our own utter unworthiness weighs heavily on the heart. These burdens come from many sources. Sometimes they are laid upon us by the providence of God, and sometimes they are of our own creation. For example, the great pain of the burden of sin is that we know it is our own fault, and, therefore, it involves the bitter pain of self-reproach. But some of these burdens are not always felt, or, if felt, not really cared for. People are ready to complain of them; but they are not really longing to be free. They are very much like Israel in Egypt. Israel groaned and grumbled, but yet when a deliverer came to them from God, they did not care to be delivered. Turn to their words of reproach which they spake to Moses when the Egyptians were pursuing them, Exod. xiv. 12, ‘Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ They groaned a great deal, but yet they wished to be let alone. They had no faith in delivering power, so they preferred to bear their burden rather than run any risk in their effort to be free. How many are there to this day just like them, who confess their burden, who lament their burden, who wish to be free of their burden, if they can be so without difficulty, but who yet, when you tell them of the saving power of the Lord Jesus reply in their hearts, ‘Let us alone!’ Now remember that our blessed Lord and Saviour is a Saviour from the burden, whatever the burden be. If He does not take it away He will give you power to bear it. He is the burden-bearer as well as the sin-bearer; and if He does not remove the burden He is sure to sustain you under it, for He has said, ‘Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.’ But He will one day remove the burden. This is what He did for Israel. He promised to ‘bring them out from under their burdens,’ and He did it, and we may trust Him to do the same by us. He will do it in His own time, and His own way. ‘The time appointed may be long but the thing is true, and the day is coming when every burden will be gone for ever, and the most burdened heart amongst us will appear in perfect rest in the presence of the Lord.