Cast Your Cares…but How?
I grew up in a small Midwest town.
Every Sunday and Wednesday, my family went to the local Baptist church,
where I learned that God created the whole world and that Jesus loves the little children.
And it was at this church that I first heard the “Cares Chorus” by Kelly Willard.
I cast all my cares upon you.
I lay all my burdens down at your feet,
and any time I don't know what to do,
I will cast all my cares upon you.
I've loved that song for as long as I can remember.
I have prayed that prayer in my heart more times than I can count.
And casting your cares on Jesus seems pretty simple
when you’re a little girl. . .
When your feelings get hurt by your friend, you just tell Jesus all about it
and you start to feel better
Or when your parents don't let you go to your friend's house,
you tell Jesus about how it feels so unfair,
and you feel a little bit better.
Or when you're riding your bike and you fall and scrape your knee,
you tell Jesus all about how much it hurts,
and you start to feel a little bit better.
But the problem is -
What do you do when your burdens are much more significant!?
When hurt feelings and scraped knees sound like a walk in the park!
In my experience,
it's not so easy to just cast your cares on the Lord, when your cares are “grown up” cares!
Now, I'm not really sure why. It feels so much harder when the problems are so much bigger. But I was reflecting on that this morning.
And thinking about the scripture, birth That these song lyrics come from First Peter, 5 verse 7 says casting, all your cares upon the Lord because he cares about you. Did you notice the problem here? This is actually the second half of a thought.
It's not a complete thought. The casting your cares. Yes The second part of instructions that Peter was giving in a letter.
To some believers who are facing great suffering First, Peter. Chapter 5. Versus 629 say So you see, casting, your cares actually follows the instruction to humble yourself.
Under the mighty hand of God, this is what hit me this morning.
When I was reading this passage this morning, it hit different. And I realized that I have always quoted verse 7 as A single command cast your cares upon the Lord because he cares about you, but that's not what this is. Actually, it's a multi step instruction.
You see the letter A first Peter. Is the apostle Peters letter to a group of believers who are facing great trials and we'll face even greater suffering soon. And the whole letter is encouraging and wisdom on how to live.
The life of a Christian While facing great suffering, and so these verses come in the very conclusion of this letter.
