Verse of the Day Devotion: 1 Peter 5:7 

“Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7            

This verse here is similar to one we find in the psalms.  “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Psalms 55:22. Both have the idea that we do not need to be burdened by trials and troubles because God said He would bare them for us. 

First, lets examine the context to this verse.  Peter starts this chapter by exhorting the elders to shepherd God’s people.  He tells them to train and help those under their care to grow in Christ.  And specifically not to do it out of duty, but from eagerness, wanting them to grow and see them become stronger in the faith.  And not lording over them but being examples of how they were to live.  He then exhorts the younger men who are under these leaders to humbly place themselves under subjection to their teachings.  It is important that Christians allow themselves to be discipled so as to understand and grow in the faith.  He then adds the following, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” 1 Peter 5:6. To submit patiently to what God allows or causes to happen.  Sometimes He uses difficulty to correct us and we must accept this, for God does love us and knows what is best for us.  And in the process we are to wait humbly and patiently for the time God determines these tough times are completed.

Now, back to our focus verse, which is tied to verse six.  In submitting to God, we should then cast on Him all our anxieties, cares and worries, knowing God is good.  The idea in the word casting is ‘once for all.’  In other words, we are to cast our anxieties on Him and never take them back.  Too often we give them to God, and are fine for a season, but then we take them back.  We cast them upon Him trusting that He has them covered, then we take them back and become anxious again.  Have we lost our trust in Him?  The reason Peter gives as to why we can cast our cares on Him is because He cares for us.  Does He not care about us anymore?  The answer to these questions are an emphatic “NO”. He will never stop caring for us because He loves us with a never-ending love.  He does not delight in our troubles, however as stated above, He has a reason for allowing them.  And we must trust that all will end for our good. 

Therefore, when we find ourselves anxious about something, we must permanently give it to Him and not be anxious about it anymore.  We must leave it with Him and trust that we will be OK.  He loves us too much to allow something that will cause us harm, but also loves us enough to allow things that may be difficult but will cause a good to happen to us.  Trust Him and do not let our situations make us anxious or worrisome.  If a good comes from it, then was it really a bad thing?

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.