He Cares for You
1 Peter 5:6–7 is a great consolation in the face of anxieties and troubles on earth.
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)
TROUBLES
You and I will continue to face numerous troubles and anxieties so long as we live in this sin-cursed world. Evil is here. Temptation is here. Suffering and disaster are here. The enemies of God are here. Sin still lives within us; and we are weak; and we are impatient; and we are forgetful. And all of this is the result of man's rebellion against God the consequent judgment of God against rebellious man.
The question is, what do we do with the various anxieties of life in a fallen world? This passages says we are to cast them on God (v. 7; see Psalm 55:22).
PRAYER
How do I cast my anxieties on God? By praying in faith.
By faith, we come into the presence of God as those united to Christ and justified in His sight. In prayer, we lay our burdens down before the throne of God. We cast, we throw, we give over to God what is burdensome to us. We admit we need help. We cry out for wisdom and strength. We plead with God for a deeper and stronger faith. We beg God and rely upon Him as the only solution to all the anxieties and troubles of life under the curse of sin and death.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)
DIVINE HELP
What is so comforting about this? The fact that God cares for us!
If God did not care for us, if Jesus had no compassion for us, if the Spirit had no comfort for us, this would not be an encouragement to the weak and weary sinner. But the Spirit longs to comfort the children of God. Jesus has great pity and compassion on lowly sinners. God, in the great love with which He loves us, most certainly cares for you. He has proved it in Christ and verified it in your heart by His Word and Spirit.
All it takes for us to cast our anxieties on God through prayer is the sincere belief that God cares for us.
CHRIST
He is the Almighty, and His care is for us. He is holy, and He cares for sinners. And God's care is always accessible to those who would access it through faith in the risen Lord.
What I'm trying to do in this article is nothing less than what all of Scripture aims to do: turn your heart and fix your gaze on Jesus Christ as your living source of divine care.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
And let us keep,
"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
HUMILITY
Notice how 1 Peter 5:6 begins with the command, "Humble yourselves." Then, the beginning of verse 7 clarifies how we must humble ourselves, namely, by "casting all your anxieties on him." None of us will cast our burdens down before God without a genuine humility in our hearts. He will reward us in the proper time in the proper way according to His wisdom, which the second part of verse 6 explains.
True faith breeds humility, and humility leads into prayer. Over and over again in our walk with the Lord, we should be driven to humble prayer.
As an oasis is the place to rest and refresh with shade and water, humble prayer is the place to recognize afresh God's authority and power, to cry out to Him for help and grace, and to reap the nourishments of communion with Him and all the spiritual blessings that flow from that communion. Again, all of this is predicated on one very simply yet profound truth: "because He cares for you" (v. 7).
A Call to Remember
One sure way to freeze up in your spiritual life and become dull and fruitless is to forget that God cares for you. If you remember that God cares for you, and if you increase in your knowledge of God Himself, the nature of His care, and the practical goals of His care, the Spirit will strengthen you in the Spirit and bear much fruit for the glory of God.
Indeed, 1 Peter 5:6–7 is a great consolation in the face of anxieties and troubles on earth.
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
by: Matt Fortunato