“Casting all your care upon Him: for He careth for you.” (I Peter 5:7)
There is a malady that some are commonly calling the “North American disease.” What is it? Is it contagious? Can it infect everyone of every age? Well, it is doubtful that it is confined to North America. Maybe, it is just more pronounced in the good old United States of America.
This “disease” is anxiety, stress, worry, tension, undue attention given to the “cares” of this world. Its symptoms are stiff necks, ulcers, headaches, irritability, lack of rest, heart attacks, and lack of trust and reliance upon the Lord. We are all affected by this “disease” sometime or another in our lives. It affects believers and unbelievers all over the world. However, the believer has the remedy!
This wonderful verse, I Peter 5:7, could be divided into two parts, “your cares,” and “He cares.” Even the meaning of the two “cares” is important. When the Scripture says, “casting all your cares,” it means the whole of your care, not just partially or a little bit at a time. Anxieties and worries never seem to be small or insignificant, at least not to the one who is taken up and over by the “cares” of life.
The parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13, vividly shows what happens to the one who lets the care of this world unduly affect him. The word of God is sown. It should produce fruit in the life of the believer, but we are told in verse 22 that,
“The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”
Another very familiar but expressive example is found in Luke 10:38-42. This account concerns Martha, Mary, and Jesus. We are told that Martha was “cumbered.” This means she was distracted from the living Word. She “drew around” her all the cares of the management of household duties. Jesus said to her,
“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.”
Inwardly she was very, very anxious (and careful), outwardly she was unusually “troubled.” This shows that our inward anxieties and outward problems will very definitely keep us from the Word, therefore, adversely affecting our spiritual lives.
There is another side to this, however, that is God’s side. “He careth for you!” God shows a watchful interest and affection for us that is able to overcome all our “cares.” We do have to allow Him to do this by “casting all of our care upon Him.”
Is there a heart o’erbound by sorrow?
Is there a life weighed down by care?
Come to the cross, each burden bearing
All your anxiety—leave it there!
Psalms 55:22 reads,
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
First Corinthians 9:9 asks a pertinent question, “Doth God take care of the oxen?” In Matthew 6, He tells of God’s care for the fowls of the air, and the lilies of the field. Then in Luke 12:6, He asks, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” The question is resolved in verse 7, “Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows …”
Does Jesus Care?
“O yes, He cares; I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary,
The long night dreary,
I know my Saviour cares.”
