"Oppression"

"Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred." (Psalms 25:19) Having seen the cost of stress, we should consider what alternative condition we have available; it's really just common sense that we are talking about here, not some kind of secret code, or some other mystical way of finding the cure for the stress in our lives. God would say to us, "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18), because He has the answers to every problem we could ever come up against, it's just a matter of us being willing to approach Him, and do so on His terms, not ours! This is what the term 'oppression' means, to be weighed down; which is what we become when we try and carry our own burdens; those burdens just get bigger and bigger, until ultimately, we are crushed below the weight of something that might have started as a pebble of sand in comparison. Primarily, the root to every problem in our lives is sin; it just goes without saying, that all of the worlds problems are the result of sin and the fall of man. Sure, the devil has a lot to do with man being tempted; but Jesus came and straightened him out on that issue; taking that power away from him by living a life that was free of sin in the form of the flesh. We are not meant to take on the devil; Jesus has already done that, so that we would not have to; but we are required to give all of our cares and burdens to the Lord; that is our responsibility as a believer in the power of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! That said; I must go back to the 'root issue' of our problem; because if we are suffering with some kind of burden, then there must be a reason that we are holding onto something that we are not meant to bear; and that reason could have it's root in sin! No; I am sorry; let me correct that statement by saying, That Reason Does have it's Root in Sin! There are some who believe that each and every illness we have is the result of some kind of sin in our life; which I believe does have some truth in it, it just needs to be approached with reason and balanced by the Word of God. Here is the way I see this issued being played out in our lives: we hold unto burdens that are associated with sin that we are not willing to let go of; therefore, the sin that we are not willing to let go of, is the root of our burden... "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished." (Proverbs 27:12)