Cast all your anxiety upon God, because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6–7 (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 13: The Doctrine of God’s Providence
We believe that this good God,
after he created all things,
did not abandon them to chance or fortune
but leads and governs them
according to his holy will,
in such a way that nothing happens in this world
without his orderly arrangement.
Yet God is not the author of,
nor can he be charged with,
the sin that occurs.
For his power and goodness
are so great and incomprehensible
that he arranges and does his work very well and justly
even when the devils and wicked men act unjustly.
We do not wish to inquire
with undue curiosity
into what he does that surpasses human understanding
and is beyond our ability to comprehend.
But in all humility and reverence
we adore the just judgments of God,
which are hidden from us,
being content to be Christ’s disciples,
so as to learn only what he shows us in his Word,
without going beyond those limits.
This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort
since it teaches us
that nothing can happen to us by chance
but only by the arrangement of our gracious
heavenly Father.
He watches over us with fatherly care,
keeping all creatures under his control,
so that not one of the hairs on our heads
(for they are all numbered)
nor even a little bird
can fall to the ground
without the will of our Father.
In this thought we rest,
knowing that he holds in check
the devils and all our enemies,
who cannot hurt us
without his permission and will.
For that reason we reject
the damnable error of the Epicureans,
who say that God involves himself in nothing
and leaves everything to chance.
Summary
This short but extremely comforting couple of sentences at the end of Peter's first letter are full of contrasts. In the first sentence, the idea of humbling yourself - literally lowering yourself - is pitted against the fact that God will lift you up in due time (some translations use the word exalt, which simply means to lift up).
In the second of the two sentences, you're commanded to cast off your anxieties - the worries, cares and concerns that are continually jostling around between your ears. You're not to just set them down or gently toss them to the side, but to cast them upon God. Peter uses a strong verb here; think of how hard and far you would throw a grenade that you knew was about to explode; use that same all-out effort to cast your anxieties and worries into God's mighty hand. Why throw your concerns upon God? Because God is concerned about you!
What we're learning from these contrasts Peter puts together is that the cure for everyday anxiety is to do the opposite of what your instinct tells you to do! Our instinct is to build ourselves up; to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps so to speak. No, says Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, you need to stop trying to lift yourself up and instead humbly lower yourself under God's almighty hand so that He will lift you up.
Rather than stuffing down and internalizing the things your anxious about as you try and solve these confounding puzzles on your own, throw them as hard as you can upon your loving Father.
Dig Deeper
The short command that Peter gives us here certainly isn't a prayer, but notice that it does fit into the AAA pattern.
So when you're crushed by your concerns, begin by acknowledging who God is: He has an almighty hand and He cares for you! Next, align your life with God's will by humbling yourself so that He can lift you up. Finally, ask God to help with the things that are crushing you: cast all of your anxieties upon Him!
Jesus promises that He will do whatever we ask for in His name (John 14:13). So you can be certain that when you've humbled yourself and asked your Father to lift you up in the name of Jesus that He will! But it may not be immediate. You'll be lifted up in due time. As you wait, trust what we've learned these past two weeks about God's providence.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father in heaven, who has a mighty hand and who cares for us;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Humble yourself under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Cast all of your anxiety on Him.
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Matthew 7
