Casting Your [Whole] Care

For a very long time, one of my favorite Bible passages has been I Peter 5:6–7. What has drawn me most is Verse 7 but since Verse 7 is a continuation of a sentence started in Verse 6, I take them as a whole. Here are the verses from the Amplified Bible:

Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

Those three points in Verse 7 never fail to calm any storm that arises in my heart. First, I like that amplification: “all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all.” Nothing negative or troubling can possibly be left out of that! It’s easy to add a visualization of bundling all that difficult, unhappy “stuff” into one large bale and handing off the whole thing to God.

Then there is a reason given for why we can do that: because He cares for us affectionately and (as if that were not enough) He cares about us watchfully. Now my visualization focuses on a source of protection that not only likes me enough to post my picture on His refrigerator but is diligently, vigilantly watching to guard me from harm.

This God who loves us is not only paying attention to all that concerns us, but willingly takes the load from us anytime we are ready to let go of it. That’s a Bible promise to live on!