Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Anxiety can creep up at times when we least expect it and quickly overwhelm us. Or it can take up unwelcome and apparently permanent residence in our lives. Few people do not experience it; it may take on different faces, and it may be propelled by different circumstances, but the issue itself is remarkably common.
When we face anxiety, we often try to ignore it by distracting our minds: “Let me listen to some music. Let me go for a drive. Let me run a mile. Let me do something… just let me run away!”
Notice, though, that in this verse, Peter does not say we are to deny, ignore, or flee from anxiety. Instead, we should be “casting all [our] anxieties on him.” The Greek word for “cast” here is a decisive, energetic action word. It could be used to describe throwing out a bag of trash. We don’t put painstaking effort into moving it; we simply grab it and hurl it into the bin. Likewise, instead of going through our days pressed down by the burden of anxiety, we are to throw it, hurl it, upon the Lord.
To do this requires us to give up our pride—our desire to control and triumph over circumstances. Being humble is what enables us to give our worries to God: humility’s presence leads to anxiety’s absence. When we attempt to take matters into our own hands through too much worry, we indicate an absence of humility; we’re more concerned with ourselves than with our heavenly Father, or we’re more determined to navigate our own course than to leave it to Him.
There will always be a circumstance that can make us anxious. Peter doesn’t address any specific circumstances, though; rather, he addresses the anxiety produced by the circumstances. Our anxiety itself is what we cast upon the Lord, doing exactly what the Bible says to do: humbling ourselves under God’s hand, saying, “My Father knows best. He cares for me better than I can care for myself.” When worries weigh us down, we can refuse to be burdened by them by calling to mind the Lord’s willingness to help.
You might be struggling through today, wondering how you’re going to make it to tomorrow. Perhaps it’s been a long time since you knelt beside your bed and truly cast your burden upon the only one who is able to carry it, saying, “God, I cannot live my life with this burden on my back. Take it. It’s Yours.”
If that’s you, don’t hesitate any longer. Cast your anxieties into the loving arms of your heavenly Father and experience the freedom and peace only He can provide.
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Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotional by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, The Good Book Company.
