Read: I Peter 4-5
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7)
It has been said that the only person whose problems are truly all behind him is a school bus driver. The truth is, everybody “gots” problems—lots of them! There are more than enough worries, anxieties and challenges to go around in this day and age.
But that doesn’t mean you have to live your life paralyzed by your problems. As Martin Luther said, just because the birds fly over your head doesn’t mean you have to let them build a nest in your hair. Nor do you have allow your problems to shackle you with fear and anxiety. God didn’t create you to live that way.
Someone has said that “worry is a think stream of fear which, if encouraged, becomes a wide channel into which all other thoughts flow.” English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote, “Anxiety is not only a pain which we must ask God to assuage but also a weakness we must ask Him to pardon—for He’s told us to take no care for the morrow.”
So rather than holding onto those worries allowing them to become a river of fear, cast them onto God. That’s what Peter says. Cast your worries, fears and anxieties on him. All of them! Big ones, for sure. And even the little ones. He will take them all, because he cares that much for you!
That means you will need to practice the art of constant casting. You will not simply be able to cast your cares onto God once and be done with it. You will need to do it continually because you will never be far from problems. And those problems will be continually feeding that tributary of worry, and that tributary will be continually flowing into that river of fear that threatens to sweep you under. That’s just the reality of your life and mine.
So the next time you find yourself worrying—which will probably be within minutes after reading this post—just cast it back to God and say, “Lord, this one is too big for me. Here, you handle it.”
Sounds simple, I know, but just try it. Try it for a week. Take every single one of your anxieties, worries and fear in the next seven days—all of them—and consciously cast them onto God, and just see what happens.
If you will, God’s promise is that you will find yourself in his care (I Peter 5:7) and experiencing his peace (Philippians 3:6-7).
Lord, here they are—all of my problems. They are too big for me. I refuse to stay up late worrying over them one more night. Since your Word says you never sleep nor slumber…since you’re going to be up anyway, why don’t you worry about them while I get some restful sleep! So I give my anxieties to you, and in exchange, by faith, I will rest in your care and I will receive your peace.
Ray, thank you for this, I was a member of Calvary Temple and became a true Christian during the time you were there, I was just prowling around the internet to postpone going down for the night because I have been waking up and worrying lately because of a myriad of problems that have appeared lately.
This is usually not my style, but I have been unable to shake it so I am optimistic that I will be able to cast the worries away tonight.
It's funny how something so simple can be hidden from view or understanding when worry has fogged a person's confidence. Thank you for a timely thought.
WW
We face a daily choice between faith and fear. Fear, not problems, is our biggest challenge, since the author of fear, the devil, wants to erode our confidence in an all-sufficient Heavenly Father. When fear comes, doubt sets in, then worry arrives, and faith gets pushed to the back of the shelf. And as you well know, without faith, it is impossible to please God. That's why God made sure to include 365 'fear nots" in his Word–one for each day of the year to remind us that we are perfectly safe in his caring and competent hands!