“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”-{1 Peter 5:6-7}
Anxiety. It reminds me of the story I once read, of a pilot in the early days of aviation. As he was flying he heard a gnawing sound coming from near the engine. He kept hearing it, he knew he did not have time to take it down and land it, due to the danger and what he suspected it may be. Instead, he took the plane higher and higher and eventually the gnawing sound stopped. When he did finally land, he checked and found a dead rodent. What he had suspected was true. The rodent was chewing on vital wires so he took the plane higher and higher as he knew a rodent could not live in a higher atmosphere! And in the spiritual realm, anxiety is like that rodent, chawing and gnawing away at our minds seeking to destroy us, dishearten us and divert us from loving God and others. But anxiety cannot survive when we take it higher to the Throne of God and as Peter says in this passage to “The Mighty Hand of God,” which speaks of His Sovereign power!
And here is the wonderful truth from His Throne, He wants you to give Him all those things that are gnawing away at you! He is Anxieties Answer!
It reminds me of the old Hymn, “Take it to the LORD in prayer!” Often when an anxious thought comes, if we are not alert, we accept the though, embrace it, turn it over and over in our mind until it seeps into every pore of our emotional state and tear us down, indeed tear us apart. The word, “Anxiety” comes from two Greek words, that mean “To Divide” and “Mind.” Anxiety is to divide the mind,, and that is what it does, it pulls us in different directions and leads if we do not resist it and handle God’s way, it leads to being unstable in all our ways.
So we must by faith in the midst of suffering, trials, troubles, bad news, difficult times choose to trust God and His Word and by faith DO what He says. And to these dear people whom Peter wrote to who were suffering, slandered, some slaves, he writes and tells them to “Humble yourselves under the Mighty hand of God,” and the way it is written that one evidence of humility is “CASTING ALL YOUR CARES{ANXIETY} ON HIM.”- {1 Peter 5:6} . He had warned against Pride, that God is “opposed” to pride, but gives- gifted- Grace to the Humble. Pride does not submit self or it’s pride “UNDER” the “Mighty hand of God” and therefore suffers, because they reject God’s authority and right to lovingly reign in their lives and therefore have no claim on His peace, or the reception of their “casting all of their cares upon Him!” Why not? “God is Opposed to the Proud! He firmly, resists and stands opposed continuously to pride! One reason to humble ourselves is because God is opposed to pride. Another Benefit is because He tells you what to do with Anxieties, your anxieties and that He will do for you and with them.”Casing all of your anxieties upon Him!”
And another benefit is “Because HE Cares for you!”
How easy it is under duress, emotional stress, to doubt God cares for you. The demonic thought goes something like this,”If God really cared for you, why would He let this happen to you.” And like the disciples who were in difficult CIRCUMSTANCES out on a boat when the wind and sea were whipping up around them and these hardened fishermen were afraid and they woke up the LORD and said, “Do you not care we are perishing?” They took the worse scenario,”we are perishing….” was that a fact? No, They thought it therefore they treated what they “FELT” as Fact!
Martha in Luke 10:38-42, shows that anxiety unchecked leads to Demeaning Mary; Self pity; Demanding the LORD does what she says. The fruit of anxiety is destructive, both to ourselves and those around us and Dishonors the LORD. Martha did this when she said, “LORD Don’t You care?” She Doubted His care, concern for her. Anxiety questions in a derogatory way the character of God! Anxiety is deadly! Irrational, when it attacks, questions God’s character and His careing about you and for you. So often we have believed the lie that if we are followers of Christ, reading our Bibles, having our quiet times, serving, going to church, Bible studies maybe even Seminary, bible school, serving in te church, giving etc. that God “owes” us that we are “entitled” to be kept from suffering, severe trials, that He “owes” us and what do we base this on? PRIDE! We appeal to Him like the self righteous Pharisee who went up to pray,
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ -{Luke 18:10-12}. Note his appeal is NOT to God but to himself! Impressed with himself, exalting himself, proclaiming himself. Self focused, self promoting, self exalted, Self deceived! But that is what Pride does!
But look what Jesus says, as he compares him to the Tax gatherer who expresses Humility.
“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” -{Luke 18:10-14}. There you have the comparison and the end for both pride and humility!
Beware of Pride, because God is “Opposed” to pride; God “Hates” it, it is an “abomination” to Him. -{Read Prov 6:16}.
As followers of Christ we are not above choosing pride and the manifestation of that is to refuse to come “UNDER” the Mighty hand of God in time of testing, to choose another way other than him and His. Anxiety can tempt us to, and so we cry out to Him. “LORD help me, this is too much I cannot handle it, but You can and You tell me to cast, throw the whole of my anxieties upon You, and this I do “because You CARE for me!”
1. He CARED for you in your Mother’s Womb;
” For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for [j]I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. “-{Psalm 139:13-18}
2. He CARED For Your Soul – when you were spiritually Dead;
” And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together [g]with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, “- {Ephesians 2:1-6}
3. He Has Taken CARE of Your Future;
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”-{John 14:2-3}.
“ Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “-{John 17:24}
4. He has CARED for Your Spiritual Resources;
A. -The Power Of God &, The Promises of God; “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”-{2 Peter 1:3-4}
B. -The Spirit of God; “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “-{John 16:13}. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.”-{Phil 2:13 NLT}
C. – Spiritual Gifts; ” As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. “- {1 Peter 4:10-11}
D.- The Word of God; “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for [b]training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. “-{2 Timothy 3:15-17}
E – Gifted, Godly Leaders; ” And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the ]knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”-{Ephesians 4:11-16} ‘
G.- Spiritual Weapons;– “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, ” -{2 Cor 10:4-5}
GOD CARES FOR YOU; -“And He said to His disciples, “For this reason, I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! “-{Luke 12:22-24}. There is never a moment when HE does not CARE for you. When you awake in the morning, you awake by Love who Cares for you, ” How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.“-{Psalm 139:17-18}. When you awake He is with you, He is always with you and He cares for you, the Psalmist says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand…” If we could count every grain of sand by taking a handful and grain by grain letting them fall through our fingers we would need endless lifetimes to get through the surface of one desert let alone go below the surface and not to mention the sand in all the deserts and on all the seashores and he says the precious thoughts God has for you outnumbers them all. Oh, how He Lovingly, compassionately, consistently, cares for you, eternally so!
In times of Suffering, slandering, anxiety, The message is CASTING all of your anxieties because He Cares for you!” Who is it that cares for you? He whom verse 5 says is all-powerful and present, as is the meaning of the phrase,”The Mighty Hand of God.”God who is all-powerful cares for you! When you are tempted to be scared, anxious, when you are suffering or as Peter says in 1 Peter 1:6 “Distressed” the word speaks of “emotional stress” and encountering “fiery trials”- {1 Peter 1:7}, remember to cast all of your anxieties upon Him, and the motivation is, “Because He cares for you!”
Humility’s Benefits;
The Humble Get to Cast All Of Their Anxieties upon the LORD.
The Humble have a Promise of Hope- “God Cares For You.”
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”-{1 Peter 5:6-7}