Hebrew Word Study – Our Lot In Life – Yahav יהב. Yod Hei Beth 

Psalms 55:22: “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

This is such a wonderful promise that the Lord will take on our burdens.  It is such a wonderful verse that I am a little afraid to put this verse under my microscope.  Maybe it doesn’t mean exactly as it seems to come across. No, that can’t be. The very nature of love is that you want to bear the burden of one you love.  An old Jewish saying is that a mother is only as happy as her saddest child. If a mother longs to bear her child’s burden how much more would God long to bear our burdens.

What I think bothers me about this verse is that it is not saying lay your burdens upon the Lord, but cast your burdens.  Then once you have done that He sustains you.  If we cast our burdens upon Him, does it not follow that He is sustaining us? Just what does He mean by a burden?  I suspect this verse bears a deeper hidden treasure than what is already apparent.

First we need to examine this word cast.  It is the word hasleka from the root word shalak.  That Hei in front of the word indicates that this verb is in a Hiphil form.  That means it is causative. It is also in an imperative form, which makes it a command. God is not asking us to share our burdens with Him. He is not patting us on the head saying; “There, there now, come on, let me take this burden off of you.  That’s it give it to me, it’s ok.”  He is not coaxing us and trying to get us to let go of our burden. He is commanding us to release that burden upon Him.  But more than that this is in a Hiphil form, causative. He is causing us or making us cast our burden on Him.  Why is it so important that we share our burdens with God that He literally commands us and almost forces us to share our burdens with Him. 

In the Shakespearian play Julius Caesar, Brutus is very burdened over his role in the coming assassination of his friend Caesar and his wife Portia since his burden/secret and tries to get him to share that burden with her, but he refuses.  She then demands that He shares his burdens with her otherwise she will not be worthy of being his wife. She is so disturbed that Brutus will not share his burden with her that she poisons herself.  She feels she has lost her husband’s love because he will not share his burden with her. 

I believe that is why God used the shalak in a Hiphal imperative form. God longs to be a part of our lives, He is married to us, He loves us and His love demands that we share every aspect of our lives with Him.  If we don’t we will break his heart as Brutus broke the heart of his beloved wife Portia because he would not allow her into this one secret place in his life. 

The word shalak means to throw, sling or cast. It comes from a word used to describe a bird as it goes into a dive to snatch a floating piece of food on the ground or water. The other day I was parked in my disability bus in the parking lot of a shopping center. As I was just waiting for my passenger, I parked in an area that was empty of cars and noticed some seagulls from Lake Michigan were holding some sort of gathering.  I tossed a piece of my Egg McMuffin to them and immediately they broke up their little caucus and literally fought over my piece of Egg McMuffin that I shalaked to them.  It brought me a sense of joy that they were so eager and anxious for that piece of muffin, like they really enjoyed it. It was as if I was doing them a favor. 

I could not help think of how anxious God is to just bear our burdens for us, so anxious that we don’t need to even get close to Him with our burden, we just need to toss it to Him and He is Johnny on the spot to grab it up. Not only that those seagulls derived pleasure from my little offering as God derives pleasure from our offering to Him, the offering of our burden. 

The word burden is interesting here. It is the word yahav which is the word for a lot, as in the casting of a lot.  You see when the Jews entered the Promised Land, God gave each of the twelve tribes a portion of the land. That was their tribe’s portion. Then the tribes would divide their portion up into lots so each family had their own little plot of land to cultivate.  However, some families got rocky, poor land and others got rich fertile soil. That hardly seemed fair so what they did was once a year they would exchange their portion of the land with each other by casting lots. If your lot fell on poor land, will that was where the old saying comes from, “your lot in life” at least for that following year. Better luck next year. 

How many of us look upon our “lot in life.”  I listened to one of my teachings this afternoon and I just couldn’t stand to listen to it. How could I be such a poor speaker after years of preaching, teaching, and lecturing? All the hesitations, uhs, and ums. I cried out to God: “Why couldn’t you have given me a gift of oratory like some of these preachers I hear on the internet. Why do I struggle with such a small audience when others who are half my training and studies, half my age have massive audiences? Why do I have to drive a disability bus to make ends meet? Then I sighed and said; “Well Lord, I guess I drew the short straw, this is my “lot in life.” 

That brought me to this verse where God is saying: “Look, I gave you that lot and now just cast it to me, I want to do something with it, something you can’t do with it. Ok? Trust me? I want more than ever to carry your ‘yahav’ you burden/lot. And as far as having to drive a disability bus rather than retire to a full-time ministry, I’ve got your back.  I have and will continue to sustain you.”  

I checked out that word sustains in Hebrew. It comes from the root word kul has the idea of containing a measured quantity, filling a vessel with provisions sustenance. Only it is in a Piel intensive form.  What God is saying; “No matter what your lot is in life, shalak, cast it to Me, I have plans for it and I want more than anything to fill it, to fill it to overflowing.” 

Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.

Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!