Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7
You ever have one of those weeks where it seems that each day has its new challenge. Each day the calendar is full and the demands are many. Then, when you think things couldn’t get any crazier, it does. Your week goes from long to agonizingly long and you don’t look forward to the next new day. There are times when we feel we can barely make it through this day. Your strength is sapped around 9 AM. Your confidence is gone and it seems like it left days ago. It seems like everything you do or touch or say is wrong.
I feel like that is the story of my week. Each day I am not looking forward to and it has already been way too long. The demands that work puts on us is so much at times. The anxiety of tomorrow and the next day and the rest of the week is just too much right now that I want to run away from it all. The anxieties are weighing me down. I feel like each passing moment is another moment to call on God for grace and help because this world is beating me down.
But actually, that is what I need to do. I need God’s grace and help constantly, especially on these tough days. Because as I get worn down from the different beatings, the wrongs, the failures, I need the help of God so much. But that is when the verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” comes to life. That is when God reminds me, I can’t do this nor do I need to try. For when I am low, when I am weak, when I am struggling so much, that is when I need to call on Him and I will be at my strongest. It is funny that when things are fine and going well, that I am weak because those are the days I rely on self.
Jesus reminds us in Matthew 11: 28-30 about not being burdened with the things of this world, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Rest. Sweet, sweet rest. While the burdens and cares of this life weigh us down, while this world tries to strip life away from us, Jesus promises us a way to be free. A way to not be burdened by the things of this world. A way to turn it all over to Him and let God be in control. The stresses of life and bad days and weeks create all sorts of different problems. Tiredness, stress, anger, bad attitude and so much more. But God offers us an escape. When we give to God our cares, worries and anxieties, He promises us in 1 Peter 5:7 that He will help us because He does care for us. So much more than we could ever, ever imagine.
God cares so much for you that even the things that seem like the smallest irritation; even He cares about because it is something that is bothering us. God cares for us. He cares about all aspects of our lives. How awesome and amazing is that! God wants a deep, personal and intimate relationship with us that no matter how big or small the anxieties are He wants to know. He knows them already. More than we could imagine and know about, yet He wants to hear from us. He wants us to remember Him. He promises us what this world can never promise us. Hope. While we struggle and fight for control in this world, God simply tells us to give all our anxieties to Him and He will take care of it. Why? Because He cares for us. He wants to see our dependence on Him. What wonderful joys come when we let God be God. When we get out of His way and trust Him with our worries and burdens, He gives us such an amazing peace. He comes to our rescue.
The thing we struggle with is control and thinking we can do it or that God needs our help. God needs nothing. God created all things, so He can handle our problems. He is already there, working in it. But we need to let go. We have to trust. And when you think about it, why would we not trust the only thing worthy of trust. We know that things won’t always work out the way we may want or desire, but God has a plan. That plan is beyond our comprehension, but God is good. God is for you. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31, NIV).
As we struggle in the tough times. As the world brings us down, God offers hope. Give Him your worries because when everyone else doesn’t seem to care or listen. When everyone else in your life isn’t hearing you or your pain or your struggle and all you want is just to be heard. You want to know that someone is actually listening to you and your pain and it seems no one understands. It seems that others aren’t hearing the words coming out of your mouth. They are too busy trying to solve your problem. Telling you what to do and how to feel or not feel. Remember this verse from 1 Peter. God is with you and wants to hear from you. He will listen and is listening now. He knows those pains already. He knows what you are struggling with. He has felt that pain and knows those struggles. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15, NIV). God wants to hear from you. He cares for you. He will listen. But we also need to listen to Him and what he is moving us to do. Talk to Him and give Him your worries, anxieties and cares. He will help. He is waiting for you.
Finally, I leave you with a simple promise from our Great Lord and Savior about tomorrow. Listen to His words in Matthew 6:31-34, “31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (italics mine). Talk to God. What is He saying? Keep listening. Keep giving Him your cares, for He is already at work. He will and is helping you! Blessings brothers and sisters.