Casting All Your Care Upon God
ICS Daily Devotions
1 Peter 5:7 (AMP) 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.
As believers, we can offload all our anxieties, worries, and concerns to God and rest in His love because God is bigger, greater, more powerful, has more resources and ideas, and nothing is too complicated for Him—He is limitless. This is why God established a covenant with us. He did it so that man’s problem can become His problem through the covenant obligation between partners. If He has resolved our sin issue as our covenant partner, there is nothing in this life that He cannot help us with! This is why it is essential to understand the covenant and have God as our covenant partner, because we can draw on His resources. God’s love—established through an act of covenant—commits Himself to be with us in both good and bad times!
Why does God repeatedly remind us to pray and cast all our cares upon Him? Because prayer and casting our cares on Him are choices we need to make. We must come before Him to tell Him about our situation and ask for His help. You might ask why we need to share details with the Lord if He is omniscient. Speaking to Him about our problems acts as a release valve for our emotions, helps us deal with our fears, and allows us to receive from the Lord while we are in His presence. Praying in the Spirit also helps to strengthen our inner selves when we are overwhelmed with stress.
Isaiah 49:16 (NKJV) See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
Isn’t it comforting to know that God cares affectionately for you? You matter a lot to Him. Whether He cares for you is not based on what you have done or not done because it is purely the grace of God. We can run to the throne of grace during the “perfect storm” in our lives. In fact, he has invited us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We have a need when we are worried, stressed out, and lose our peace. We can have an audience with the Creator of heaven and earth. It is in the throne room of God where we pour out and cast all our cares, anxieties, concerns, and worries onto Him.
After we have done so, we should also give thanks to the Lord because we know that He has heard our prayer. It is an act of faith to believe that God has heard our prayer and will deliver us. Praise and worship keep us focused on God rather than on the problem, and it is in His presence that He infuses grace into our hearts to strengthen us.
Sermon Series: Relaxed and Composed
