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Transcript 598A
Casting Our Cares Upon Christ [1 Pet 5:17]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I have one question. It's about I Peter 5:7. It says, "casting all your cares upon Him because He careth for you." How do you go about doing this?
HC: How do we cast all our cares upon Christ? God really helps us know how to do this in Philippians 4:6. There God says, "Be careful [that is, be anxious] for nothing." All of the cares of this earth, they are what make us anxious. And He says, "Be careful for nothing. But in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God. And the peace of God that passeth understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." There is the formula.
I have a care, I'm anxious. I'm anxious about a loved one, I'm anxious about a sin in my life, I'm anxious about what tomorrow will bring, I'm anxious about this, I'm anxious about that. And God says, come to the Lord with prayer and supplication. Now to supplicate before the Lord means that we don't come arrogantly, we don't come demanding of the Lord. We come as a suppliant, someone who begs the Lord, "Oh Lord, have mercy. I don't deserve this at all, what I'm asking for. But oh, Lord, in Thy gracious mercy, is it possible?" And we rest all this with Him.
Now notice it also says in Philippians 4:6, "with thanksgiving." At the same time that we come with our anxieties, with our cares to the Lord, as we abandon ourselves afresh to Him, we also thank Him for the salvation He has provided. We thank Him for keeping us through the day. We thank Him for the wonderful Savior He has provided, and all the other multitudinous things we can think of to thank Him for. And there are so many.
And then we have the promise, not that God will take the care away, or the anxiety away, but He will give us the peace of God. He will take the anxiety away, but the cause of the anxiety will remain. But we will be able to view that cause now with the peace of God that passes understanding.
CALLER: When I'm worried about things, I ask God to take this away, or give me the peace about it that He wants to give me, but I don't seem to get it. I just seem to wait around and get frustrated.
HC: The problem is that when we go to the Lord with our anxieties we bring them all to God, and we pour our hearts out to God. And then when we get off our knees, so to speak, and we finish praying, we take all those anxieties right back with us. We don't leave them with Christ.
Now the bottom line is that we don't trust Him, you see, sufficiently We've talked to Him about it, and we've told Him all about it, and we know that He is Eternal God, who cares for us, and nothing happens except it's a part of His divine will, and He's given us promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. But having known all this, we don't really trust Him. This is all a matter of faith, you see. We've gone through the motions, we've talked to the Lord about it, but we don't dare leave it there. And so a great part of our prayer has to be, "Oh Lord, strengthen my faith. Help me to trust all of these things to Thee."
And if you have your anxieties, if you've talked to the Lord about it and yet you have the anxieties, then you've got to begin to pray, "Oh Lord, forgive me for my faithlessness, that I don't really trust You. I've talked to You about it, but I don't trust You. And oh Lord, forgive me, and strengthen my faith that I will learn to leave them all with You."
CALLER: That really helps. Thanks a lot.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.