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!
Currently, I find myself with some “cares” that feel pretty big
So this morning, I was reflecting on this song and wondering why it just doesn’t feel as easy as the song makes it seem.
Frankly, I was remembering and longing for the days when singing that song brought peace to my distraught little girl heart.
So I decided I needed a little more information.
The “Cares Chorus” comes from 1 Peter 5:7 which says,
“casting all your cares on him, 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.
I had always “quoted” this verse as saying,
“cast all your cares on him, because he cares about you.”
perhaps because that’s what the song says 🤔 - but that’s not what the verse says!
So, in order to really understand verse 7, we need to first read verse 6.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 CSB)
“Ahhhh… this changes everything!”
You see, the “casting your cares” follows the instruction to “Humble yourselves” “under the mighty hand of God”
