God Cares

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).
The meaning of the word care in the above scripture is anxiety. Life has many cares. If this were not true, life would be a paradise. But because life is filled with cares and anxieties, God has invited us to place them upon Him. For God knows we are not strong enough to bear all of our cares and anxieties. Whether these cares and burdens are spiritual or temporal and whether they are great or small, God understands them all. The apostle Peter tells us to lay them all on the Lord. Peter could well say this for he had a very personal relationship with the Lord.
Peter was with the Lord when the Lord healed his mother-in-law. No doubt, he had been anxious for the health of a loved one. Two times he was delivered from storms on the rough waters of Galilee. Once, when in fright, the disciples cried to the Lord for deliverance when the Lord was asleep in the ship. Another time, during a storm, Jesus came walking on the sea. Peter, in his fear, also attempted to walk on the water, but his fears overcame him and he began to sink. The Lord delivered both times. Peter also witnessed the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes.
When Jesus warned the disciples that He would soon die at the hands of the Jews, Peter boasted that he would not desert Him, but would stay with Him to the end. Then very shortly he did deny the Lord. The Lord continued to love Peter and to bestow His care.
The verse, “For he careth for you,” has a twofold meaning of love and burden bearing. Without love there would be very little bearing of burdens. Jesus’ love is infinite. There is no burden too great for Him to bear. Even though Jesus is infinite in His power, there is nothing too small for Him to notice and to bear. We may stagger at the immensity of a burden or we may scoff at the minute burden, but Peter instructs us to cast all our cares upon the Lord.
Sometimes cares have a way of clinging to a person. Even though they may be heavy, they often are difficult to shed and get rid of. The term, to cast them, suggests that we are to throw them upon the Lord. The reason is that God is anxious to take them from us.
There are many kinds of cares and burdens. There are burdens of sin, burdens of broken health, burdens of failure, and burdens of caring for troubled family and friends. Then there is the care of age creeping upon the senior citizen. All of this and more Peter urges to cast upon the Lord.
The scripture verse immediately ahead of the one used in this essay teaches, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). The great secret is to humbly admit our cares and bring them to the Lord and He will help us to carry them. Any care that we are not able to bear, the Lord will help to bear.

102 Devotional Sermonettes, Used by Permission