Nobody likes seeming weak. Nowadays, people will do anything and everything to appear as strong and confident as possible. We smile through pain and laugh off insults. We keep up our confident facades no matter what kind of heartbreak, betrayal, shame, embarrassment, and agony we are experiencing.

We try so hard to seem like we have it all together, even when everything around us is falling to pieces. We hold the weight of a thousand worlds on our shoulders and the last thing we want to do is ask anyone for help. We keep our burdens all to ourselves.

But these burdens, they’re heavy. And when we’re the only ones carrying them, they weigh us down. They render us paralyzed, crippled by pain and suffering. We’re stuck in place, immobilized and ashamed. We keep our problems to ourselves because we don’t want to seem weak, or bother anybody, or show anybody our weaknesses. But there’s something we often forget, or may not even realize.

God will take it all for you, if you let him.

That’s right. All your burdens. All your sin. All your shame. God will take it all for you. He will bear it for you, if you let him.

This is a hard thing to do, I know. It’s hard to put your faith in somebody that you can’t see or hear. It’s hard to lean on someone that you can’t touch or feel. It’s the primary struggle of being a Christian, in my opinion. How do you put your complete and total trust in a deity that the whole world is telling you isn’t real? Doesn’t that make you naïve? Stupid? Gullible? When you’re dealing with very real issues, how do you trust a God that’s often labeled as fiction?

Psalm 55:22 says “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” In other words, you can always lean on God.

Matthew 11:28 says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” In other words, you can always lean on God.

Exodus 14:14 says “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." In other words, you can always lean on God.

The proof is in the pudding (or in this case, the Bible). God loves you. He wants you to cast your burdens onto him. He knows you better than anyone else ever will. He knows you’re a sinner and completely and utterly broken. And he still loves you. He still wants you to lean on him. He wants to fight for you. When you’re tired and drained and ashamed and hopeless, he wants to fight for you.

Still don’t believe that God would bear all of your burdens for you? Guess what? He already did. God sent his only son to die for us. He sent his son, fully human and fully divine, down to our wretched Earth. He sent his son, who knew no sin, to bear the weight of every single sin that the world had committed. Jesus Christ hung heavy on that wooden cross, heavy from bearing all of our burdens. He gave us a second chance. He brought us to life.

I know it’s hard to believe. I had a hard time accepting it myself. But I can now say with 100% certainty that you can lean on God when you can’t handle life alone. Not only can you, but you have to. We aren’t designed to be able to handle sin and suffering on our own. If we were, we’d have no need for a higher power. We were designed to be redeemed by Jesus Christ. We were designed to trust in the Lord and his love for us.

You can always ask God for help. You can always get down on your knees and pray to Him about what you need. He isn’t a genie or a magic wish, but He will always love you. You never have to feel like you’re too messed up to have a relationship with God. You never have to feel like you’re beyond the point of redemption to ask Him for help. He knows how utterly broken and sinful you are, and He still loves you.

When you’re lost, and desperate, and in so much pain, it sometimes seems like there isn’t a way out. God is your way out. He always is, and he always will be. Whether you ask for help or not, God will always be working in your life. As Habbakuk 1:5 states, “Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”