God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are un-managable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanageable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

God Rejoices to Do You Good

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. . . . I will rejoice in doing them good.” (Jeremiah 32:40–41)

This is one of those promises of God that I come back to again and again when I get discouraged. Can you think of any fact more encouraging than that God rejoices to do you good? Not just does you good. Not just is committed to doing you good — glorious as that is. But that he rejoices to do you good. “I will rejoice in doing them good.”

He doesn’t begrudgingly fulfill the promise in Romans 8:28 to work everything together for our good. It is his joy to do you good. And not just sometimes. Always! “I will not turn away from doing good to them.” There are no lapses in his commitment or in his joy in doing good to his children — to those who trust him.

That should make us so glad!

But sometimes it is hard to be glad. Our situation is so hard to bear that we just can’t muster any joy. When that happens to me, I try to imitate Abraham: “In hope he believed against hope” (Romans 4:18). In other words, you look your hopeless situation in the face and say, “You are not as strong as God! He can do the impossible. And I know he loves to do it for those who trust him. So, hopelessness, you will not have the last say. I trust God!”

God has always been faithful to guard that little spark of faith for me and eventually (not always right away) fan it into a flame of happiness and full confidence. And Jeremiah 32:41 is a great part of that joy.

Oh, how glad I am that what makes the heart of almighty God happy includes doing good for you and me! “I will rejoice in doing them good.”

John Piper 

Don’t Serve God

The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

John Piper

God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are un-managable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

The Hope of God’s Rebuke

PRAY OVER THIS

“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Proverbs 29:1

 

PONDER THIS

God has called me to proclaim that He loves you with an infinite love. He has spoken to you over and over again, and He’s speaking to you today. But God says, “If you continue to harden your neck, you’ll be destroyed.” And when you are, there will be no second chance. It will be without remedy, without hope. I looked this verse up in several different translations, and they all mean the same thing: no hope, without a second chance, without a remedy, without a cure.

But why would God rebuke you? Because He loves you so much, and He wants to save you today. You may ask, “Pastor Rogers, would Jesus save me today?” Yes. “Pastor Rogers, are you sure?” Yes, I’m sure, if you’ll call upon Him.” You say, “What if I’ve crossed the deadline?” If you call upon Him, you haven’t.

How might you use the message of today’s devotion to encourage someone in the truth?

How does God’s rebuke always give us hope? Why is it worse to not have His rebuke?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider where God is rebuking you currently. Respond to Him in obedience as He is prompting you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanageable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

What Won’t God Give Us?

PRAY OVER THIS

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32

 

PONDER THIS

If you were to say to me, “Adrian, can I have your son? I want to take your firstborn, Steve,” I would likely ask, “What do you want to do with Steve?” If you replied, “Well, I want to lie about him, beat him, abuse him, strip him naked and nail him to a cross,” I would quickly say, “No! You can’t have my son.”

But suppose I loved you enough for whatever reason I said, “Yes, you can have my son.” And then you said, “And can I have his basketball and his bicycle and his blue jeans?” I’d say, “Are you kidding? If I’d give you my son, do you think I’d withhold the basketball, the bicycle, and the blue jeans?” Friend, “He who spared not His own Son, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” If God gave the first gift, the best gift, everything else comes with Jesus. There is no deprivation in the gift of Christ.

When do you have trouble believing God will give you good things?

How does the reminder that He has willingly given His Son for your sake change your perspective?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of truly good things you desire and need from God. Take time to meditate on the truth that He has given you His Son and will not withhold any good thing you truly need.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Fight Anxiety

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?

The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.

The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin — including the sin of anxiety — is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The work of the Spirit and the word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief on the windshield.

Both are necessary: the Spirit and the word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety straightens out.

John Piper 

God Works for You

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:1–3)

Do you need help? I do. Where do you look for help?

When the psalmist lifted up his eyes to the hills and asked, “From where does my help come?” he answered, “My help comes from the Lord” — not from the hills, but from the God who made the hills. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

So, he reminded himself of two great truths: One is that God is a mighty Creator over all the problems of life; the other is that God never sleeps. “He who keeps you will not slumber.”

God is a tireless worker. He never wearies. Think of God as a worker in your life. Yes, it is amazing. We are prone to think of ourselves as workers in God’s life. But the Bible wants us first to be amazed that God is a worker in our lives: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

God is working for us around the clock. He does not take days off and he does not sleep. In fact he is so eager to work for us that he goes around looking for more work to do for people who will trust him: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

God loves to show his tireless power and wisdom and goodness by working for people who trust him. The sending of his Son, Jesus, was the main way the Father showed this: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Jesus works for his followers. He serves them. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. It is a “help available” sign.

This is what we must believe — really believe — in order to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and “[give] thanks always and for everything” (Ephesians 5:20) and have “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and “not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6), and hate our lives “in this world” (John 12:25), and “love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Matthew 22:39).

What a truth! What a reality! God is up all night and all day to work for those who wait for him.

John Piper 

God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanageable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

Commit Your Problems to God’s Keeping

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."Psalm 55:22

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

If you were carrying around $100,000 in cash, you’d want to get it into the bank as soon as possible. You’d say, “Boy, I hope I don’t lose this. I hope somebody doesn’t find out I’ve got it. I hope I don’t get robbed — anything could happen!”

The word commit is a banking term, meaning to put something with someone else for a safe deposit. So, you go down to the bank, make out a deposit slip, and deposit that $100,000 in cash. You hand it to the teller, and she gives you a receipt. Then you say, “Whoo, I feel better.”

Once it’s safely in the bank, a burden lifts. It’s still your money, but you see it differently. You’ve committed it to someone you know can take care of it. You don’t get a couple of pistols and sit on the front steps of the bank to protect your money, do you? If you didn’t believe they could take care of it, you wouldn’t have given it to them in the first place.

That’s the way it is with the Lord. The problems are still ours; we’ve just committed them to His keeping. He doesn’t say He’ll take the burden away. He says He will sustain you.

ACTION POINT

That’s the idea here. Just commit your burden to the Lord, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Don’t worry about it; rather, commit it to God. He will take care of it. You can bank on it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God, Touch Our Hearts

Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. (1 Samuel 10:26)

Just think of what is being said in this verse. God touched them. Not a wife. Not a child. Not a parent. Not a counselor. But God. God touched them.

The One with infinite power in the universe. The One with infinite authority and infinite wisdom and infinite love and infinite goodness and infinite purity and infinite justice. That One touched their heart.

How does the circumference of Jupiter touch the edge of a molecule? Let alone penetrate to its nucleus?

The touch of God is awesome not just because it is God who touches, but also because it is a touch. It is a real connection. That it involves the heart is awesome. That it involves God is awesome. And that it involves an actual touch is awesome.

The valiant men were not just spoken to. They were not just swayed by a divine influence. They were not just seen and known. God, with infinite condescension, touched their heart. God was that close. And they were not consumed.

I love that touch. I want it more and more. For myself and for all of you. I pray that God would touch me anew with his glory and for this glory. I pray that he would touch us all.

Oh, for the touch of God! If it comes with fire, so be it. If it comes with water, so be it. If it comes with wind, let it come, O God. If it comes with thunder and lightning, let us bow before it.

O Lord, come. Come that close. Burn and soak and blow and crash. Or still and small, come. Come all the way. Touch our hearts.

John Piper 

God Cares for You

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

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride?

God’s answer would sound something like this (paraphrasing Isaiah 51:12):

I — the Lord, your Maker — I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you; and those who threaten you are mere men who die. So, your fear must mean that you do not trust me — and even though you are not sure that your own resources will take care of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance, rather than faith in my future grace. So, all your trembling — weak as it is — reveals pride.

The remedy? Turn from self-reliance to God-reliance, and put your faith in the all-sufficient power of the promise of his future grace.

You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1 Peter 5:6–7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses. “Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God . . . [now, verse 7] casting all your anxieties on him.” Verse 7 is not a new sentence. It’s a subordinate clause. It starts with a participle: “Humble yourselves . . . [by] casting all your anxieties on him.”

This means that casting your anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. It’s like saying, “Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut.” Or, “Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes on the road.” Or, “Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving.” Or, “Humble yourselves . . . casting your fears on God.”

One way to humble ourselves is to cast all our anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride. No matter how weak it looks or feels.

Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanageable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.

In other words, pride is a form of unbelief and does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore, the way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the promise of future grace in the words, “He cares for you.” And then unload your fears onto his strong shoulders.

John Piper 

What Burden Weighs on Your Heart Today?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you"... (1 Peter 5:7)

 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read about a man whose dog was swimming. The man called to the dog because it was time to go home. The dog was having such a great time, he wouldn’t come. So the man picked up a stick and threw it in the water. When the dog saw the stick, he instinctively swam to the stick, put it in his mouth, came back, and laid it at his master’s feet.

I wonder if the burden you have has been given to you by God to cause you to come to His feet. Maybe He’s called you other ways, but you wouldn’t come. Maybe the burden is what God is using to bring you to your Master’s feet. But thank God we can cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us.

ACTION POINT:

What burden weighs on your heart today? Did you know we have a high priest, the Lord Jesus, who, the Bible says, is not high and mighty and aloof, but one who can relate to our sufferings and understand them? For He Himself knew the greatest pain, suffering, and loss. Read Hebrews 4:15-16, then cast your cares upon Him today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers