Psalm 55:20 My companion laid hands on a friend and violated a covenant with me 21 with speech smoother than butter, but with a heart set on war; with words that were softer than oil, but in fact were drawn swords. 22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Two things get my attention this morning related to this passage. First, the vivid language of v.21 “speech smoother than butter, but with a heart set on war; with words that were softer than oil, but in fact were drawn swords”. This is language of betrayal by someone close. It’s personal and painful.

Then there’s v.22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you”. The burden of betrayal isn’t so much physical in nature as it is emotional/spiritual. It weighs one down from the inside. The promise of God isn’t the removal of the burden, or that God will carry the burden himself, but that God will give grace to sustain the psalmist through the heaviness that comes from betrayal.

This is a good word for me today. Like you, I have burdens. They aren’t necessarily burdens of betrayal, but burdens nonetheless. And they get heavy. And while I will always pray for burdens to be removed or reconciled, I’m reminded that I can also pray for grace to be sustained should the burdens remain. Not a bad option really.

Lord let it be so. Amen.