Verse of the Day 3/9

1 Peter 5:6-7  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.   English Standard Version (ESV)

Yesterday in James 1 we considered  how we are to "count it all joy" when we face various trials,  knowing that the "testing of our faith" produces endurance and patience.  Most of us are probably familiar with verse 7 quoted above.  We have learned to cast our cares and anxieties on Jesus especially when we look back and see how much He cares by how He has carried us through previous trials.

Verse 6 shows us where this whole process begins "humble yourself" before God.  This involves realizing that we cannot handle it, we cannot "fix it" ourselves but must learn to submit and to trust in God to provide the  answers in His time.  Not turning to God, holding out in hopes that  we can solve the problem and take credit for it is prideful.  As The Message puts it below, "God has had it with the proud".

My grandfather Sivert was a carpenter.  He could do just about anything with wood, he could fix things, build things and carve things out of would.  There was no challenge that he wouldn't take on when it came to wood.  He would use his "swedish ingenuity".  He passed part of that attitude on to me, gave me the confidence to be a hands on person that could make and fix things.  It served me well until I faced things in my adult years that I could not fix, my older son with a traumatic brain injury and later my younger son that faced an inoperable  brain tumor.  I finally learned what it meant to be humbled and to cast those cares, those anxieties on God.

In these verses, John Piper writes that God is saying, "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 future grace. "

The casting in the verse is throwing.  It is not randomly throwing out your cares hoping that you'll "catch" the answer, it is throwing your cares, heaping them on Jesus, He cares and He will help you carry the load.  As we do this we'll learn to trust and to trust Him more.

Come, every soul by sin oppressed;
There's mercy with the Lord,
And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His Word.

Refrain

Only trust Him, only trust Him,
Only trust Him now;
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way,
That leads you into rest;
Believe in Him without delay
And you are fully blessed.

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

1 Peter 5:4-7The Message (MSG)

^4-5 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he'll see that you've done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

^6-7 So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.