Are we insensitive to the strain we are putting on others? Good friends will indeed do wonderful things to help each other, but the benefit should be reciprocal and not all one way. Nothing that is said here is intended to discourage deep friendship, nor to minimise the help that should be given to those in need, but human friendships can be overtaxed. The apostle Paul says, ‘let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden’ (Galatians 6:4-5). Instead of constantly casting our burden on fellow human beings, we should cast them on the Lord, for there is no limit to what he can bear and he encourages us to bring everything to him. Peter tells us to cast ‘all your care upon him; for he careth for you’ (1 Pet. 5:7). This means that we bring to God in prayer all our needs; we trust him to solve problems which are too great for us to solve; we remember the limits of human help; we remember that others have their own burdens to bear and do not treat them unfairly. Pastors are there to help God’s people with their exceptional problems, but to live in constant reliance on them indicates an immaturity that is characteristic of a child, and we are urged to become adults in the faith.