6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6–7

Yesterday we looked at verse 6 and how to serve Christ with humility. But one of the most challenging verses in the Bible for me is verse 7: “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Who doesn’t worry? Especially women. We worry about our kids, our husbands, our siblings, our parents and our friends. God designed us to be helpmates and nurturers, and with that design comes a whole host of worries and anxieties. The list of things to worry about often feels much longer than the list of things we need not worry about—especially in this unstable and unpredictable world.

Who would have thought pronouns would become such a source of tension and anxiety? Or that children would still be plagued with social anxiety and depression five years after a pandemic shut down the world? But here we are, living in it.

We can’t control how people think, feel or act. We can’t change what the government does or a friend or family member’s diagnosis or a prodigal child. But we can pray for all these things. And prayer and worry don’t go well together.

Years ago, I heard a pastor say, “If you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray?” I remember thinking, Wow—that is so simple, yet so difficult to life out!

Oftentimes, I will pray asking the Lord for miracles and healing, yet, when I am finished, I find myself still riddled with anxiety over those very things I just released to God in prayer.

Charles Spurgeon once used the illustration of a man helping a friend move furniture while carrying a very heavy backpack on his own shoulders. He complained that he found the job of moving the furniture difficult. Wouldn’t you suggest it would be easier for him if he laid down his own burden so that he could carry his friends?

In the same way, how can we to do God’s work when our own burdens and worries weigh us down?
Verse 7 calls us to cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us. It does not say that God cares for us because we cast our anxieties on Him. He cares for us in spite of all our heavy burdens.

The hard part is trusting that He will take our burdens and anxieties and do what He pleases with them. We want so badly to control the narrative. We want God to do what we think is best. But, God does what He knows is best—it was never ours to control.

And if we are to help others with their burdens and serve with humility, as we discussed yesterday, we cannot be effective if our own burdens are weighing us down.

God desires for us to live free from anxiety. Jesus reminds us of this in Matthew 6:25–33: 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

As Spurgeon says, “We cannot do God’s work when we are weighed down by our own burdens and worries.”

Just as we long to see our children free from anxiety and worry, our heavenly Father desires the same for us. He wants to relieve us from all of our heavy burdens and give us a life free from fear and worry.
The Greek word for “cast” literally means “to throw upon,” “to throw down” or “to hurl.” Imagine yourself carrying hundreds of pounds of heavy burdens, anxieties, worries and pain— and hurling them at the feet of Jesus. That is exactly what He is asks us to do!

Instead of carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, we are to leave it at His feet. When we keep our shoulders free from our own burdens, we have the strength to care for others who are in need.
Galatians 6:2 says to “bear one another’s burdens.” Lean on your tribe—and if you don’t have one, find one fast. We aren’t meant to shoulder these burdens alone. We cannot carry such heavy things by ourselves.

We need help! We need prayer warriors in our corner, fighting for us and with us. And if you struggle with trust, welcome to the club—I do too! Sometimes I feel like I have to guard every inch of my life, and that burden alone can be heavier than I can bear.

But I’ve found a group of sisters I can trust with my life, and I know they will go to battle for me in prayer and anything else I might need. Joining a disciple group can be the first step toward finding your tribe.
God truly cares for you. He fights for you. He listens to you and hears your prayers. Do not carry the load He never intended for you to bear. Cast all your anxieties on Him.

And remember—it is because He cares for us that we can bring our anxieties to the feet of Jesus. Coming to Him with your baggage is a privilege that we get because we are His daughters. We have a Father, who longs to fight our battles for us. Amen