Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. – 1 Peter 5:7 NLT
As a pastor for almost 20 years, I’ve walked with hundreds of people through some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Husbands and wives are forced to rebuild their lives after a spouse walked out on them. Parents are shattered after the death of a child. People from all walks of life are weighed down by guilt and shame over the horrific things that have been done to them and the unmentionable things done by them. Between that, and all the terrible things going on in our world right now, there are days when I feel disgusted over all the pain and suffering life can hold.
Certain experiences mark us in life. Things we wish we could unsee and unhear but, try as we might, we can’t.
What do you do with those things you wish you could delete from the hard drive of your brain? How do you move forward when the awful things around you, the awful things done to you, and the awful things done by you, fill you with disgust?
In today’s verse, the apostle Peter tells us to give all our worries and cares to God because He cares about us. The Greek word for ‘give’ in this verse means, “to throw upon, place upon.” The NIV translates the word “give” as “cast”; like casting a fishing line or throwing something from one person to another.
What Peter is saying here is that some burdens are too heavy for us to carry. Instead of trying to lug it around on our own, we need to throw it on the back of our Heavenly Father, who can carry anything that life dishes out to us.
Last year my family and I moved across the country. During the moving process, I sometimes found my kids trying to carry something on their own, but they couldn’t because it was too heavy for them. In those moments my wife and I came alongside them and shouldered the burden with them so they wouldn’t have to carry it alone.
What big rocks are you carrying around in the backpack of your life? What terrible things are going on in the world that keeps you up at night? What horrible things have been done to you that continue to weigh you down? What sins have you committed that you’re too ashamed to talk about?
There’s nothing on your mind you can’t lay at His feet. There’s no wound on your heart His hands can’t heal. There’s no weight on your shoulders His back can’t carry. There’s no sin in your life that God can’t forgive.
Stop trying to carry your cares and start casting them to the Lord. Let your Heavenly Father carry your cares because He cares for you.
Dig Deeper
1. What’s something going on in our world today that makes you feel sick?
2. Is there something you’ve done or that’s been done to you that continues to burden you? Pour it out to God in a letter, ask for Him to shoulder it with you, then tear up the letter as a way of giving those burdens to Him.
3. Read Philippians 4:8. What are some things that are “excellent and worthy of praise” that you can focus on this week (i.e. worship music, calling a friend, going for a walk, working on a hobby/project, etc.)?
