Boy, You’re Gonna Carry That Weight
For my guilty deeds have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. Psalm 38:4 NASB
Heavy burden – Let’s start here CLICK. In my last year at the University of Washington, before an exam I would go to the sound studio and play Abbey Road—loud! I wouldn’t think about the upcoming exam. I’d just clear my head of everything academic and be carried along by the Beatles’ music. The lyrics taught me more than those courses in nineteenth century British philosophy or Kant or symbolic logic. This song was particularly compelling. Carrying the weight. The weight of proving myself worthy, or being a husband and father, or the expectations that were part of just being alive. The weight. If we stop chasing and running and scrambling, we feel it. Do we have to wait until we die to remove this maśśāʾ kābēd—burden heavy?
Perhaps the Hebrew words themselves offer a solution. You’ll recognize kābēd. It covers two interesting linguistic domains. The first is “heavy, grievous, hard.” But the second is “rich, honorable,” and “glorious.” The same word with two very different meanings. Which one to use is a matter of choice. And, of course, that’s exactly right. It’s a matter of choice. Hard or glorious. Heavy or honorable. It depends on the choice. Yes, you and I have burdens, but whether or not they are heavy or glorious is up to us. It’s not the weight. It’s the perspective, the personal purpose, the point. It’s no surprise that kābēd describes Pharoah’s hardened heart and also the glory of God. Same word, different perspective.
What about maśśāʾ? We need to recall that maśśāʾ is a derivative of the verb nāśāʾ, a verb that means “to lift, to carry.” The only real question here is this: “Who’s carrying?” The action is the same; the actors are different. Do you remember this passage?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
In Hebrew he would have used the same word, maśśāʾ. Notice he doesn’t say, “My burden is nothing.” It’s not a matter of removing the burden. It’s a matter of reducing it to a comfortable weight. How does that happen? Well, if we start with the psalmist’s situation, we should notice that a lighter burden means the removal of guilt, and that, of course, comes from forgiveness.
We carry the weight—not just the weight of being alive but the weight of being guilty. That’s the crushing burden. That’s the over-the-top-too-much-for-me load. And, “boy, you’re gonna carry that weight a long time” unless you find forgiveness, unless someone lifts it off you.
Topical Index: maśśāʾ kābēd, heavy burden, forgiveness, Psalm 38:4
