“What burden can you not let go of? A spiritual pilgrimage carrying Psalm 23

One of Max Lucado's representative works, showcasing the poet's sensibility and wit.
Our lives can easily become stale or drained as we travel around carrying burdens, bundles, and bags of discontent, boredom, sadness, fear, doubt, loneliness, discouragement, despair, and pride.
Veteran spiritual guide Max Lucado summons an old friend to help us let go of the heavy burdens of life.
It is Psalm 23.


Psalm 23, the subject of countless songs, translated into countless languages, and ingrained in the hearts of countless people, serves as a "magic bullet" that shows us how to let go of all the burdens that cling so tenaciously to our lives.
Just as we cannot give grace to others when we are burdened with guilt, nor can we comfort others when we are discouraged ourselves, nor can we share the burdens of our neighbors when we have our own arms full of burdens, so we must lay down our burdens for those we love and come out to God dressed lightly.
Above all, in order to live happily, you must throw away the bundles of 'excessive baggage that you cannot handle.'
Psalm 23 is an excellent starting point for practicing and training in letting go of the burdens that are bothersome to carry but difficult to put down.
This book is like a textbook that trains us to become masters of faith who travel life with ease, like masters of travel who do not carry 'too much baggage'.

*This book has been introduced in Korea under the titles “Leave Your Baggage and Ask for Directions” and “Learning Freedom from Max Lucado.”

I don't know how to travel light without luggage.
But now we need to learn.
If we have another child, the airline will let us check two extra bags for him, and we can take two more on the plane, but my wife keeps saying she doesn't want any more children.
So, you have no choice but to learn how to travel light and without luggage.

--- p.13

Now let's take a cool-headed look at it.
I can't control my mood, and my relationships are in turmoil.
I am always afraid and make mistakes.
And yet, do you want to live in this world, relying only on yourself? I can almost hear your plea to lean on the shepherd.
If you don't feel that way at all, you should rewrite Psalm 23 like this:
“I am my own shepherd, and I will always be lacking...”
--- p.52

God does not clearly show us the path we should take from beginning to end.
If you have any such expectations, you'd better give up.
What the Lord promised was a “light for my feet,” not a “telescope to see into the future.”
Don't worry about what happens tomorrow.
We have nothing to worry about, knowing that God is leading us and will provide us with “grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

--- p.102

A few words of praise can upset the inner order of a person.
A person whose head becomes stiff and brain function deteriorates after receiving a single compliment immediately begins to think that it is because he is good that he is able to survive in this world.
They completely forget that they came from dust and were saved from sin.

--- p.144

Don't measure how big or high the mountain is, but tell it to the one who can move it.
Instead of struggling to carry the world on your shoulders, consult with the One who rules the universe.
Hope is the act of looking into the distance.
Where are you looking now?
--- p.198

God gives hope.
So it doesn't matter whether you're born a little thin or a little strong.
It doesn't matter whether your skin color is dark or light.
Why count diplomas and compare resumes? Who cares if others hold high positions? We sit at the same table as God.
And the Lord fills our cup to overflowing.

--- p.258

Now there's only one thing left to carry.
It's not a burden of guilt.
Guilt was abandoned before the cross of Calvary.
Nor is it the burden of the fear of death.
It was left in an empty tomb.
The identity of the bundle that remains stubbornly until the end is the heart that longs for one's hometown, the very heart that God gave us.
When the day finally comes when we meet the Lord, only then will we be able to put down the 'burden of longing.'
Just as a soldier returning from battle throws down his duffel bag as soon as he sees his wife, so too, as soon as we meet God the Father, we put down the bundle of longing.

--- pp.295-296

If you can't shake off old habits and find yourself searching for the bundles of luggage you left behind the day before as soon as the sun rises, put them down again.
Put it down and put it down again until that sweet moment comes when you no longer have to carry around all those useless bundles.

--- p.306