Feb 15 2022

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Peter wrote his first letter in the New Testament to a church that was undergoing persecution and suffering. In this verse, he told them to cast their cares (meaning anxieties) on God. And they had many cares: uncertainties about their future, the continual threat of persecution, and the inevitable suffering they would face. Because God cared for them, Peter said, they should cast their cares on Him.

This applies to Christians today just as it did in Peter's time because God loves us. We should hand our problems over to Him. We were not meant to dwell in worry and fear. Both of these emotions, when sustained over a period of time, are a form of pride because they suggest that we must be responsible for ourselves. When we worry or are afraid, we're putting the burden of our lives on ourselves, assuming that we alone are responsible for what happens to us.

Peter's words give us a radically different picture of what to do with these emotions. We are to cast them on God. The word cast means "to throw." We are to throw these emotions on God. This is a very strong visual! He wants us to give every fear and uncertainty to Him, throwing out our doubts and exchanging them for faith in the Lord.

It can be difficult to cast our cares to Jesus because when we cast them out, we're also surrendering ourselves to God's will. We're saying that we can trust Him, no matter what. Peter knew this, which is why he followed up with the second half of the verse: He cares for us. We are able to eschew fear and anxiety because we know the Lord cares for us.

Do you ever struggle to believe the Lord cares for you? At certain times in my life I have. So, what do we do then? We can look back in our own lives and in the Bible, where we see that God has demonstrated His care for us so many times. The most striking example of His care is found in Jesus, who gave up His life in a brutal death on the cross so we could know Him. If I'm going to cast my cares somewhere, there's no one I'd rather cast them to than a God who loved me enough to sacrifice His own Son for my salvation.

Dear Lord, I am sorry for walking around in doubts, insecurities, or fear. I don't want to be burdened with my own self. Instead, I want to cast my fears on you. I give you every worry, Jesus. I thank you for your care for me. You care more about me than I even care about myself. You love me more than I will ever love myself. In your name, amen.

Feb 14 2022

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. :

Today's verse reminds us that all we have to do is wait on the Lord. But as impatient humans we don't like to wait; we need to take action, to make plans. I often find myself planning everything to the nth degree. I want to have five backup plans and four emergency savings accounts! Sometimes, though, the Lord may not be asking us to plan or work our way out of a situation. Rather, He's simply asking us to wait.

Waiting is not the same as doing nothing. Waiting is an action, a continuous act of faith that says, I don't have to figure this out. I will lean on Jesus and let Him figure the rest out. It seems natural, especially in a culture that focuses so much on doing, to try to fix things ourselves. We can miss that maybe in the waiting, the Lord is actually fixing things in us.

If you find yourself in a season of waiting, pray that the Lord will help you frame it correctly in your mind. Don't think of it as a time that you wish would be over. Instead, consider it a period when you focus even more carefully on leaning into the Lord.

The psalmist tells us that we can be of good courage. This means we can remain hopeful and confident in the Lord as we are waiting. Rather than letting periods of waiting erode our faith, we can view them as opportunities to grow our faith. If we find ourselves wavering, we should pray for the Lord to strengthen our heart and rest as He sustains us.

We can be encouraged from this verse that if we find ourselves waiting, we are not alone. The Lord has asked many people to wait before, including the psalmist. At the same time, we know that the Lord is working everything out for the good. He would not ask us to wait unless He had a good reason to do so. In the meantime, we can rest in total confidence in Him.

Dear Lord, help me to wait well. I choose to have confidence and to rest in you always. Help me to remember your goodness and kindness as I wait for you to move in my life. I know, Lord, that you love me deeply, and that you will not ask impossible things of me. I love you, Jesus. In your name, amen.


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