"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
I would bet a LARGE stack of cash that the majority of you have read or heard that verse at some point in your life. It's a fairly popular one, and for good reason. It packs a beautiful message. How many of us just like the pretty words, though? How often do we gloss over these eleven words without recognizing the promises held within?
Over the past few months I have been able to meditate on so many Scriptures that I only breezed over before, and what the Lord revealed to me through this simple verse has been one of my favorite reminders thus far.
Oh brother, I'm excited. Let's look at the first six words. Cast all your anxiety on Him.
Do what? CAST.
How much of your anxiety? ALL.
On whom? HIM.
Cast. Too often I try to be gentle with handing my anxiety to the Lord. I don't know how many of you have ever been fishing, but when you cast a fishing line you don't toss it gently, you THROW that thing with every ounce of strength you have. The Father doesn't need us to try and set our anxieties in His hands. The definition of cast is literally “to throw forcefully in a specified direction.”
Pro Tip: The direction is toward Him.
I promise you He is strong enough to bear your burdens. I promise that nothing you are facing right now is going to knock Him over. It's not too heavy. Cast your anxiety straight into the ocean of His perfect love. He can take it. CAST all your anxiety on Him.
All. This one is especially important right now. I find myself holding back from handing things over to the Father because He surely has bigger issues right now. He is comforting people who have COVID-19 as I type. People have lost their jobs, parents are struggling to provide for their children, teachers are figuring out what the heck this next semester is going to look like, and families are just trying to take things one day at a time.
With all of this going on, surely all of my other anxieties can be put on hold. God is dealing with MUCH bigger struggles, so my "smaller" struggles can wait. Right? Wrong.
Peter doesn't tell us to "Cast the big anxieties on Him" or "Only cast the anxieties on Him that seem relevant in this moment" or "Cast the anxieties that are as bad as your neighbors' anxieties on Him" or even "Cast the anxieties on Him that you think He wants to handle."
I think we can all admit that would be pretty ridiculous. Yet, how often do you and I understand it that way? He wants the nitty gritty. He wants the details. He wants the small stuff, because He knows that you don't really view it as that small. You're ALLOWED to take your struggles that aren't a matter of life or death to Him and He WELCOMES you. He DESIRES for you to bring those.
When I read this verse it was like a brick to the face. My struggles simply do not look the same as someone facing the virus right now or making big decisions about the future of our state, and that’s okay. That does not mean that my Father is not right beside me. It's not like a situation has to get "bad enough" for God to see me in it and rescue me from it. He wants it all. He ASKS for it all. Cast ALL your anxiety on Him.
Him. This part is important. I know I am guilty of trying to first take my anxieties to anyone other than the Father. While my friends can bear my burdens WITH me and walk through struggles with me, they cannot bear my burdens FOR me. Christ alone can do that. I am constantly reminded to cast my cares on the Father and not on my friends. Cast all your anxiety on HIM.
The second part of the verse is packed with equally as much truth and beauty. Why should we cast our cares on Him? It's simple: He cares for us.
God is not just some cosmic orchestrator. His joy is not in painting the sunset, it is in the joy that we get from viewing the sunset and recognizing it is a gift from Him. He is not in Heaven pressing some control panel, moving us from level to level. No. He CARES about us. We are His CHILDREN! He has CLAIMED us, and He wants to care for us.
He is listening. He is caring for our spiritual and emotional needs, and at the same time, He is taking care of us. He loves us in an unimaginable way, and we are His beloved children.
Again, I know this verse is on Instagram every other day and that it’s hanging on walls all over the place, but I think it’s worth breaking down the little verses to see the true beauty.
"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
Allison Dale is a sophomore at Kansas State University, and she’s still trying to figure out what exactly she wants to study. She converted to the Church in September, and she finds joy in hammocking, long walks, little flowers, and pretty words. Her greatest joy, however, is being "big C" Catholic. You can find more of her words here.