The heavy load of life can become unbearable at times. We get so weary with carrying specific burdens that it hinders our joy, deflates our attitude, and even injures our health. The other day I reviewed a wonderful passage of scripture that refreshed my understanding of how much God cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7 invites us to be: “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” On my walk near the harbor recently I meditated on that verse continually. It reveals to us that our God invites us instead of carrying our burdens and troubles to cast them on Him. We are to roll that worry, that pain, that bill, that family turmoil over onto the Lord. I then stopped my walk and picked up a handful of stones. As I prayed and recited to the Lord each problem that was weighing me down I threw a stone in the water. After each problem and trial I committed to the Lord I threw another stone in the water: plop, plop, plop. Amazingly as my handful of stones disappeared so did the weight on my heart.
Whether or not you pick up a handful of stones and throw them in the water, God challenges us on a daily basis to cast all our cares upon Him. Just because we committed our burdens to Him on one occasion does not guarantee that our old worry nature will not pick them up again. Not only do we discover our Father’s overwhelming care for us in 1 Peter 5:7, we find our enemy’s all-encompassing hatred of us in 1 Peter 5:8,9a. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.” One of the devil’s favorite strategies is the sneak attack of worry, doubt, and discouragement that he uses to defeat us. His roars of: you are not good enough, God doesn’t care about you, and you will never get through this, need to elicit a firm resistance on our part.
The next time a care weighs you down or a problem stifles your joy, cast it upon the Lord, because he really does care for you.