 Ciara Lilly is a Charlotte-area writer. Her faith-based column, Fishers of Men, is published here each Monday. Opinions expressed are solely her own. |
“Casting the whole of your care (all of your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all) on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
If you’re like me, you’ve read this scripture before. And maybe you thought, just as I did, “I can do this! Give God my cares once and for all? Sure, have at ’em!” Does this all sound familiar? If so, I have one question for you, how successful have you been in following 1 Peter 5:7?
I would bet that most people haven’t been as successful as they’d like in this area. And that’s OK, because it is difficult. And the reason is simple: we all have traces of “fix-it syndrome.” Now don’t worry — it’s completely curable; just think of this message as your first step to seeking treatment.
Here was my experience with 1 Peter 5:7. I would have cares, worries and concerns just like everyone else. When I was presented with a new one, I immediately rehearsed 1 Peter 5:7 or Psalm 138:8 (“the Lord will make perfect that which concerns me”). I mean, I would get to praying and casting. Then … several days would go by and I would be carefree. How great it was! But guess what happened when something brought that care back to mind? You know, instead of me telling you.
Let me re-enact a scenario. Let’s say I received a bill that I knew would take nothing shy of a miracle to pay. I did the pray-cast method and let it go. But now, I’m looking at a pink envelope in my mailbox. And I know that pink envelopes in the bill collector world mean nothing nice. What’s my reaction? Instant fix-it mode — aka: starting a game of take back with God.
How many people have played that game before? Just think about it for a second.
A few days ago, you could have given God all your cares, anxieties and concerns. He accepted them not to hang them as trophies in Heaven, He intends on helping you! God cares! But when you’re introduced to pressure, you jerk them back from God, never realizing He holds the solution. Scratch that, never realizing unyielding faith is the solution. Instead, you rather stress yourself sick trying to figure out how to fix it; and let’s not even get into our success rate with that.
The Amplified translation of 1 Peter 5:7 says something that I really like. “Casting the whole of your care once and for all on Him …” God cannot help you if you keep taking back all of your concerns, cares and anxieties. Furthermore, your faith cannot effectively operate if you’re focusing on what you can see. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that, “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.).”
Here’s how you walk by faith and stop playing take back with God. When those cares rise up in your life, pray and follow these instructions given in Mark 11:23:
1. Speak to your source of concern: rehearse scriptures that pertain to your situation.
2. Believe: commit to believing that God can do all things, no matter how many pink envelopes come in the mail.
3. Do not doubt. Do not get into fix-it mode.
4. Wait. Again, do not get into fix-it mode.
Take it from me, in time you’ll see that it is possible to cast your cares on God, without having to take them back or stress yourself silly — because His hands are the best hands they could be in!
“Cast your burden on the Lord (releasing the weight of it) and He will sustain you; He will never allow the (consistently) righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).” — Psalm 55:22
