I'm reading through 1 Peter, and this morning came to the familiar "'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (verses 5b to 7).
Recently, my family was struggling with some distressing news. My daughter shared her grief and pain and sorrow with us, and I encouraged her to cast all her cares on the Lord. She answered that she was trying, but didn't actually "practically know how to do that". That made me think.
It's easy for me to tell someone to cast their cares on the Lord, but exactly how is that to be done?
My mind went back to an occasion in which my husband at the time was struggling with forgiving a brother who had cheated him out of thousands of dollars. Eric found that he would choose forgiveness, but within minutes, his mind was churning again with bitterness and anger. He continued to say, "Lord, I give you the situation. I choose to forgive. I pray blessing on my brother." He said that at first, the effect would last only a few seconds, but as he continued to give it to the Lord, the spaces increased to many minutes, then hours, eventually days, and he was, in the end, free. The brother never made restitution, but the relationship was restored nonetheless.
It seems to me that we have to follow the same pattern in "casting our cares on Him". If the burden returns within seconds, we give it to Him again, expressing trust that He does indeed care for us. Not only that, He is also the mighty Creator God who can make a way where there is no way. We have promises to stand on that we have to continue to claim as our own. So we keep on giving the situation back to our loving heavenly Father, even if it's every few seconds or minutes. He doesn't get weary or fed up with our repetitions.
Verse 6 of 1 Peter 5 connects "casting our cares" to humbling ourselves "under the mighty hand of God". It is pride for us to think we can carry these burdens on our own, or that doing so is necessary. God considers it humility when we unload on Him, and that may require doing it over and over and over. I have heard it said that we are sheep, not donkeys. Donkeys bear heavy burdens. Sheep were not designed for that. Our good Shepherd has promised to take care of His own. Let's continue to let Him carry us. And our burdens.
