“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
We live our lives in three major tenses: past, present, and
future. We know the past, we are
experiencing the present, and the future is a mystery. At any moment,
something can come up in our present, that brings care and worry to us. A loss of job, health issue, etc. It will be resolved at some point in the future,
but the time between those two points, and the manner of resolution is
completely unknown to us. In that unknown exist care, and the inability
to find or execute a resolution only furthers the care and worry that is
created by the situation. These situations are fertile ground for seeds of
faith, or seeds of destruction.
When Saul was “little in his own sight” God called him and elevated
him to be king over Israel. During his
reign, the Philistine army surrounded him and there was little to no “visible”
defense. The prophet Samuel told Saul to
wait on him. Eventually, the care and anxiety
got to Saul and he stepped out of the will of God to do his own will. God wants us to cast all our care upon
him. This is not a recommendation, but a commandment. Care can kill. It can kill your faith, your humility, your relationship
with Christ, and even your physical body.
Taking it on and winning over it can hurt you as much as taking it on
and crumbling under it. Like a tale of
bricks, if we haul them, they will burden us down; or we try to use them to
build a monument to puff us up. Either way,
our cares bring only destruction. When we depend on ourselves, using man’s wit
and wisdom there is only ruin. If we do
succeed (weather by might or coercion) it only furthers our own self and pride,
pushing us further from the throne. If
we fail, the devil jumps on us and we spiral.
There is no scenario where keeping cares produces a good outcome. Furthermore, the greater your inability to
solve the issue, the greater your care/anxiety over the issue. Thus, the greater the temptation to “go down
to Egypt for help.” Like Saul, resort to
your own self to produce a possible solution, instead of casting your care on
him so he can give a permanent solution.
For most of us, it is when we lose control over a situation that we find
worry, but if we would but yield control over to God of the situation; we would
find peace. We cast it onto Jesus because
he is the only one who can handle it. He
did not say, “when you feel like it cast your care.” He did not say: “when it’s to much cast your
care.” He said, I want all your care
because I care for you. I love you and I am the one, the only one, who
can completely provide for you. I can do
more for you than you can do for yourself. When I look at my two-year-old,
the level of trust she has in me, I want to trust God like that. She believes that I am going to provide for
her, protect her, guide her and care for her.
By consequence she has no care.
She is free. God can do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. God
wants to be our provider and he wants all our cares. It can be difficult to give God all our
care. Control is something we covet dearly, but this is the very reason
why we cast our care; so, God can make himself known to us, and get glory.
God’s ways are not our way’s. He doesn’t operate like we do
(praise the Lord), and his timing will make you nervous. The way of casting is a way of faith and
trust, but it is also a way of peace. You can spend your whole life striving,
building, and fighting. Battling for
solutions to present problems and planning to avoid future problems. Or, you can cast your care and let Him guide
you; he has the answer and he knows the future.
“Walk by faith and not by sight.”
Trust God and let go. Cast your
care.
