Humble Dependence

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Scripture
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

Observation

The challenge for the follower of Jesus Christ is to learn to live a life that is humbly submitted to God. It is only the person who has humbled themselves before God who is able to become completely dependent upon God. The verb for cast is quite vivid — it actually means to “hurl.” With all the power that is within us we are to throw off all of the worries and struggles of life and place them on Jesus — because he loves and cares for us. The is the picture of humble dependence. 

Application

Many people struggle with anxiety, and it seems that as a society it continues to creep into our lives. Media has established unattainable expectations for humanity. Photoshopped pictures have led us to believe that people can look perfect and only remind us of our own inadequacies. The lives we portray on social media become a cover for the realities and struggles we may be facing. In the midst of it all God is reaching out to us, encouraging us to become dependent. 

Some of us may have determined that we ought to be anxious because we have created our own problems. We don’t have the right to trust in God to help us. There is no disclaimer to this passage of scripture. No matter what we have done in life, we are invited to humble ourselves before the Lord and live in a state of complete and total reliance upon him. 

We need to focus on the last part of this verse, “because he cares for you.” Even when we get ourselves in hot water, — God cares for us! God never gives up on us. God never says that we can only cast our anxiety on him when we get our act together. 

Our loving Savior invites us to gather up everything that is causing anxiety in life, roll it up into a big ball, and hurl it toward him. It’s time to get rid of the stress and learn to live in humble and complete dependence upon the Lord who loves and cares for us. 

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the reminder that you care about it all.  Amen.

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