The Doctor is In! - Take Your Burden To the Lord

Take Your Burden To the Lord and Leave It There

       My brother Brandon holds degrees in engineering from the University of Michigan and recently sent me an email about computer engineering. It said that the software engineers who understand how the computer works are called homo logicus. The typical user, like me, is unconcerned about the inner workings of the computer. As long as it makes my work more efficient I don’t need to know HOW such things as “copying,” “cutting,” “pasting,” “deleting,” etc. work. It’s only a problem when, for whatever reason, my computer stops working properly.

       To alleviate my pain as user and eliminate the disconnect between me and homo logicus, another set of people is needed to bridge the gap. These engineers need skills not only in observing human behavior and creating human-centered designs, but also of empathy, sympathy, and compassion. At Menlo Innovations they give these engineers a special name: High-Tech Anthropologists.®

       What a perfect metaphor for my relationship with God! He is the homo logicus who understands how I work inside and out. This is a “logical” (logicus) assumption since God created man. Since His power is absolute and His wisdom infinite, He knows exactly what makes me tick. But when man sinned, he became alienated from the Creator and needed a high-tech anthropologist to bridge the gap; someone who could have empathy, sympathy, and compassion.
       Enter God’s Son Jesus the God-man! He left His throne in glory to become human like me; to bridge the lacuna. One of my favorite writers says that while on earth “Jesus calmed angry waves, walked on foam-capped billows, made demons tremble and disease flee, opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life. And as the sin-bearer He endured the wrath of divine justice and for my sake became sin itself.” In other words, Jesus is my high-tech anthropologist! Hallelujah!
       And he continues to bridge the gap for me. For the apostle Paul said, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15


One of the verses from a Charles Tindley hymn also resonates:

If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain

And your soul is almost sinking in despair,

Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Cedric Dent is a baritone vocalist in Take 6 and an accomplished producer and music arranger. Dr. Dent is a professor of Music at Middle Tennessee State University. He studied at the University of Michigan (B.M., Vocal Music Education), University of Alabama (M.M., Music Theory/Arranging), and the University of Maryland (Ph.D., Music Theory).

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