1 Peter 5:7 “. . .casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
Cares, concerns, worries, and anxiety are all relatively synonymous terms. They speak of the things in life that fill us with fear, rob us of peace, overwhelm us, and stress us out. There are numerous things that create this kind of anxiety; some of them are real and others irrational, but all of them seem to have the same effect upon us. Peter tells us the solution to dealing with the cares of life.
“. . .casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
The word ‘casting’ is a translation of a compound word in Greek meaning, ‘to throw upon’. It was used in the book of Acts when Paul was traveling by ship to Rome. In the midst of the sea, they experienced a great storm similar to a hurricane. In addition to being tossed around by the large waves and driven off course by the high winds, they had lost all sense of where they were, because for many days they were unable to see the stars to navigate. As the ship was being beat up by the storm and taking on water, the crew began to realize, they may not survive. Suddenly, the precious cargo they were transporting meant little to them, and they began to toss it overboard to lighten the ship, and increase their chances of survival. When the storm continued, they reached the point where they even began throwing the ship’s tackle overboard.
This is an apt illustration of what it means to cast our cares upon Christ. Sometimes, the storms of life cause us to realize that much of what we are living for, or hold dear, matters little in light of eternity. In the storm, we, like those sailors of old, evaluate what is truly precious and we cast all the rest at the feet of Jesus. Maybe now would be a good time to cast some of those cares at His feet. Perhaps there are things you have allowed back into your life that should be left behind, as you press toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
As the storm continued they cast the ship’s tackle overboard. Tackle, unlike cargo is necessary to the sailors. They could not hoist the sails without it. When the storm began, they relied upon their own strength and experience to get them through. As the storm raged on, they reached a point where they realized it was too much for them. All they were accustomed to trusting in proved faulty, and as a last resort they threw the tackle overboard and listened to the instructions, not of the captain, but of the Apostle. Sometimes, life’s storms are allowed so we will stop trusting in our own strength, instead turning to the Lord for direction. It may be that the care that you need to cast at His feet is the idea that you can get through this without Heaven’s help.
Whatever you are facing, cast those cares at His feet. Peter promises that Jesus cares for us.
Pastor Jim
As the forces of Egypt prepared to go to battle with Babylon, Jeremiah describes the battle scene. He paints a picture of soldiers with weapons in hand and clad with armor. His battle scene has been repeated countless times over in human history, as one force prepares to defend itself against another. I cannot help but notice a few similarities to the battle we face as believers.
As the nation teeters on the brink of collapse, Jeremiah is given a prophetic message for one man, Baruch. Baruch was an assistant to Jeremiah. One of his main roles was that of a scribe. He was responsible for writing down Jeremiah’s messages in book form and delivering them to the kings. We have every reason to believe that Baruch served Jeremiah, and the Lord, faithfully. But even faithful men are in need of correction from time to time.
Peter gives a series of exhortations, all predicated upon the fact that the end is near. When the Bible refers to the end of all things, it does so, not out of fear or despair, but out of joy and anticipation. For the believer, the end of all things means Christ will call His church home, and ultimately return to set up His earthly kingdom, where He will reign and rule in righteousness.
God warned the people not to flee to Egypt for help. He knew the Babylonians would soon defeat Egypt and any who were In allegiance with her. Despite these warnings, many of the people chose to depart from Jerusalem and Judah, making their way to Egypt. When questioned by Jeremiah as to why they chose to disobey the clear commands of God, they responded that life was easier when they worshipped the “queen of heaven.” The real reason they fled the commands of the Lord was they wanted to worship other things.
After the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar’s forces, the inhabitants of Judah began to look to Egypt as a place of refuge. Jeremiah warned them that fleeing to Pharaoh would result in further death and destruction. The same people who refused to listen when the prophet told them to willingly go to Babylon, are the people who are now fleeing to Egypt. On the one hand, the Word of God told them to go, on the other, it told them to stay. In both cases they chose to disobey. It is not the commands of God that are the problem, but the will of men. Disobedience is always driven by self-will.
Shortly after coming to Christ, I was driving down PCH in Southern California and found myself stuck at one of the many red lights, waiting for the arrow to turn green so I could continue to my destination. It was a summer day, and since my car did not have AC, my windows were rolled down. A car pulled up next to me and the driver called out to get my attention. I had never seen him before, and to my knowledge have never seen him since, but what he said to me has stuck with me for more than 25 years.
A few years back I attended a men’s conference where this verse was shared during a worship session. Like most, I was encouraged by the sentiment of it, until I recalled the context. You see, as beautiful as the verse is, it is declared by a group of people who have no real intention of doing what the Lord says. The verse might better read, “we will obey as long as the Lord tells us what we want to hear.”
After conquering Judah and Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah governor over the people. He allowed many of the Jews to remain in the land, and gave them certain freedoms regarding their worship. Soon, those who had fled from Jerusalem, when the Babylonians forces first arrived, began to make their way back to the city. Many of them were faithful to a man named Ishmael, who secretly wanted to overthrow Gedaliah and Babylon. He soon took action by going on a killing spree, putting to death all those he saw as faithful to the governor. His actions not only caused the death of many innocent men, but also turned Babylon against Jerusalem, and finally forced Ishmael to flee from Israel to the Ammonites.
