THE BURDEN OF WORRY

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”  (1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV)

Do you feel that your small anxieties, cares, and concerns cannot measure up to the world’s collective prayers to God? People are dying from flood, famine, earthquake, war, and fire; yet you worry about getting to an appointment on time. It seems almost presumptuous to expect God to care about your worries, doesn’t it?

Nevertheless, hear the truth of the Christian faith: God loves you. God has concern for your life. Your greatest triumphs, your smallest sorrows, God knows and cares about them all.

The scriptures tell you to “Cast all your anxiety on [God] because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The key word here is all -- not only the big stuff, but also the little worries and doubts that assail you throughout an average day. …

God of love, I’m tired of carrying this burden of worry. I want to believe that You will take it from me, but I find it hard because ____________________. Today, help me to cast all my anxiety upon You. Lift me up if I stumble; forgive me if I fall. I ask this humbly. Amen. 

-- Patricia Wilson in “Freedom from Worry”

#5804

WALKING WITH GOD

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  (Ephesians 5:2 NIV)

If I love God I will give myself completely to Him, surrendering each person and each thing in my life to His care. I do not need to be afraid to do this, though, as I would if God were a human being asking me to make this sort of surrender. God not only asks me to give everything to Him, but He has already given everything to me, including His own Son; His love and commitment to me are far greater than I can ever imagine. Loving Him requires me to totally abandon myself -- but my life is completely safe in His hands. 

-- Elizabeth Prentiss in “Selections from Stepping Heavenward”

#5723

TRUSTING IN GOD’S CARE

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

God cares for you! Not only will He never leave you -- that’s the negative side of the promise -- but He cares for you. He is not just there with you, He cares for you. His care is constant -- not occasional or sporadic. His care is total -- even the hairs on of your head are numbered. His care is sovereign -- nothing can touch you that He does not allow. His care is infinitely wise and good so that in the words of John Newton, “If it were possible for me to alter any part of His plan, I could only spoil it.”

We must learn to cast all our anxieties on Him. Dr. John Brown says of this verse, “The figurative expression ‘cast,’ not lay, seems to intimate that the duty enjoined is one that requires an effort; and experience tells us it is no easy matter to throw off the burden of carefulness.” So we are back to the matter of choice. We must by an act of the will in dependence on the Holy Spirit say something such as, “Lord, I choose to cast off this anxiety onto You, but I cannot do this of myself. I will trust You by Your Spirit to enable me to, having cast my anxiety on You, not to take it back upon myself.” 

-- Jerry Bridges in “Trusting God”

HE LEFT HIS THRONE

“He left His Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.”  (Charles Wesley)

Long ago, Persia was ruled by a kind shah who concealed his identity and visited the public baths as a beggar.  Seeking the lowest place and worker, the shah went to the cellar where a man stoked the furnace.  The shah befriended him, and the man shared his simple food and conversation.  Over time the worker grew attached to this stranger who visited him.  When the ruler finally revealed his true identity, he expected the worker to ask for a gift.  Instead, the furnace tender said, "You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse food, and to care about what happens to me.  On others you may bestow rich gifts, but to me you have given yourself."

What an illustration of what Jesus did for us.  He left His throne of glory and came to our place of labor and loneliness to befriend us.  That's amazing enough, but it gets even better.  Jesus has invited us to sit together with Him in "the heavenly places."  As you sit by His side, you will discover He is the God who gives. 

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians”

#5056

FACELESS FEARS

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”  (Psalm 23:4)

The dread of illness can be more damaging than the illness. The fear of failure can be more fatal than the failure. Go through the list of phobias which have multiplied in an age of anxiety and see how many of them are what Archibald MacLeish called "faceless fears." That is, they have no substance, no shape, no bodily image that you can face or fight. They're shadows. Fear of the dark -- fear of open places -- fear of closed places -- fear of criticism -- fear of the future -- fear of old age -- fear of death -- all the way to phobophobia, which is the fear of fear. There are seventy-two listed phobias, most of them shadows, ghosts. They have no power to hurt except through fear of them.

Obviously then, one of the great needs of life is to keep our fears manageable. And one of the great contributions that religious faith makes to wholesome life is right here. Nothing takes the fear out of life so much as an awareness deep within of God's nearness and His loving concern. "I will fear no evil for You are with me." The particular dread the psalmist speaks about is the common fear of death. He likens it to a shadow: "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…"  There's nothing much to fear in a shadow. The shadow of a dog can't bite. The shadow of a snake can't sting. And when life is undergirded by a consciousness of God's presence and concern, we're released from the fear of many shadows and get beyond the reach of many seeming evils. 

-- Wallace Hamilton in “Where Now Is Thy God?” 

#4948

DON’T YOU EVEN CARE?

[In the midst of the storm the disciples asked Jesus,] “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are going to drown?” (Mark 4:38)

Don’t you even care? This is the question that always burns in our hearts when trouble comes and our Lord doesn’t seem to be doing anything to help us. It’s a question produced by faith running on fumes -- a question we often hate ourselves for asking but can’t seem to avoid. It’s the question that was burning a hole in Job’s heart when he said, “I cry to You, O God, but You don’t answer me” (Job 30:20).  And it’s the question that tore a bitter wail from the psalmist: “I am forgotten, cut off from Your care” (Psalm 88:5).

If your faith needs a refill, Don’t you even care? may be the question you’ve been asking lately.

If so, you’ll find your answer in the same place the disciples found theirs -- in Jesus’ words. When He said, “Quiet down” He was commanding the storm, but even more so, He was sending a message to the disciples. He was saying, “See, I do care.”

This is one of the most important things you can understand about Jesus’ words. It doesn’t matter who (or what) He’s speaking to in Scripture, He’s also speaking to you and me. Every sentence has significance, and woven throughout His words and phrases are the answers to all of life’s most important questions. If a passage doesn’t seem relevant, it’s only because it doesn’t meet your need at that particular moment. The probability is that someday it will. 

-- Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus”

#4895

GOD CARES FOR YOU

"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

That's not only a fragment of Scripture, it's a foundation of Scripture. God's acts of compassion and mercy never go unnoticed by the authors of the Bible.  Time and again, God demonstrates His love through this intimate, very personal care of His children…

He cares for you. It's a beautiful promise that reminds you of God's intimate concern whether you're ill for weeks, [in quarantine] for months, or struggling within your marriage for years. Grab hold of that truth and hang on.  No matter what.

-- Joni Eareckson Tada in “Glorious Intruder” 

#4851

HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL? - Part 1

"Christ encourages you, and His love comforts you. God’s Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.”  (Philippians 2:1-4 CEV)

John Wesley would open up all small group meetings with the question “How is it with your soul?” That’s a far deeper question than, “How are you?” How is your soul doing? How is your spirit faring? Really, how are you?

It’s a jarring question because we often ask, “How are you?” out of habit and usually get impatient when someone has the nerve to actually tell us how they are doing. Perhaps it’s a question we like to avoid because answering it forces us to really take stock on the health of our souls — which often leads to admitting that we may not be doing as well as we want others to think.

So it’s imperative that we reflect often on Wesley’s question: How is it with your soul? What are the things that I’m engaging in that bring my soul closer God? What are the things that I’m doing that are putting a wedge between God and myself? What are the things that I’m doing in my life that really make my soul shine brightly and flourish? What are things I’m engaged in that are draining the life out of my soul?

-- Adapted from Joseph Yoo in “Ministry Matters” Blog


#4810

THE FRIEND WHO CARES

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  (Ephesians 2:3-4 NIV)

What does it mean to care?… The word care finds its roots in the Gothic "Kara," which means "lament."  The basic meaning of care is to grieve, to experience sorrow, to cry out with.  I am very much struck by this background of the word care because we tend to look at caring as an attitude of the strong toward the weak, of the powerful toward the powerless, of the haves toward the have-nots.  And, in fact, we feel quite uncomfortable with an invitation to enter into someone's pain before doing something about it.

Still, when we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares.

-- Henri Nouwen in “Out of Solitude”


#4805

GOD’S SOVEREIGN POWER AND TENDER CARE

"See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and He rules with a mighty arm… He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:10-11 NIV)

The juxtaposition in this passage of God’s sovereign power and His gentle care of His sheep is striking. The arm of the Lord in Scripture is always a symbol of His mighty power and strength; and the title “shepherd,” when used of God, always indicates His tender care and constant watchfulness.

In this passage, God’s sovereign power and tender care are united for the benefits of His people. The same arm that is exercised in power over all the universe is used to gather His lambs and to carry them close to His heart. No more picturesque symbol of God’s love for us can be given than that of the faithful and tender Shepherd carrying His lambs close to His heart. And we are carried in the arms of sovereign power.

-- Jerry Bridges in “Trusting God”


#4755

LIVING BY GRACE

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  (Matthew 6:26 NIV)

Though it is a wonderful truth to know that we are saved by grace, it is equally wonderful to know that we live by it as well.  Though we labor, just as the birds of the air labor, we do not need to grasp and grab frantically, because we have One who cares for us just as He cares for the birds of the air.

-- Richard J. Foster


#4665

A SHEPHERD WHO KNOWS HIS SHEEP

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  (Psalm 23:1 NKJV)

Perhaps the figure of the shepherd and the flock may mean little to the modern city dweller. Yet, if ever a people of this earth resembled a flock of frightened sheep it is now. Governments are afraid of each other. People are afraid of their government, of other people, and of themselves.

This Psalm of David has sung its way across the barriers of time, race, and language. For twenty-five centuries it has been treasured in the hearts of people. Today it is more beloved than ever before.

The reason it lives? Not just because it is great literature. Because it tells that above all the strife and fears, the hungers and weaknesses of mankind, there is a Shepherd -- a Shepherd who knows His sheep one by one, who is abundantly able to provide, who guides and protects, and at the close of the day opens the door to the sheepfold -- the house not made with hands.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  (Psalm 23:6 NKJV)

-- Charles L. Allen in “The Twenty-Third Psalm: An Interpretation”


#4644

YOU MATTER TO ME

It’s what a bride and groom are really saying to each other when the exchange their vows. It’s what a parent means when he says to his child, “If you ever need to talk, I’ll be here.” It’s what a young baby-toting wife means when she says to her departing GI husband, “I’ll think of you every day.” It’s what a doctor means when he stares into the jaundiced eyes of a dying patient and says, “We’ll do everything we can.”

All great promises say “You matter to me.”

That’s what makes a broken promise so painful. Nothing hurts quite as badly as the realization that someone you trusted doesn’t care after all.

If your faith needs refilling, I would recommend that you thumb through the Bible with a highlight marker in your hand and look for the promises Jesus made to you. Here are a few to start: Matthew 11:28, Luke 18:29-30, John 8:12, Revelation 3:5.

Woven into the fabric of these and many other promises is the simple message that our Lord cares about us. In spite of our failures, we matter to Him. If we didn’t, there would be no logical reason for Him to make such commitments. 

-- Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus”


#4522