“Cast all your anxieties, cares, burdens on Abba, because he cares for you.” (1Pet.5:7)
Heavenly Father, the best part of this much-loved verse is the last four words, “he cares for you.” How do you care for us? Not like a genie in a bottle granting wishes. Not as a butler in a mansion satisfying whims. Not like a drill sergeant whipping us into shape. Hallelujah, you care for us as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Cor.1:3)—as a skilled and loving potter making us more and more like Jesus—as the God of all grace always giving us what we need when we need it.
You’ve numbered our hairs, sorrows, and days. You know our fears and bottle our tears. No one cares for us like you. The Gospel is the clearest, loudest, boldest, kindest proof this is true. But how do we cast our cares on you when we feel like we just had rotator-cuff surgery on both shoulders?
Not by holding on for dear life till Jesus returns, but by being held by Jesus and letting go of stuff we were never meant to hoard, fix, or weaponize. So, on this August Saturday, “seated with Jesus in the heavenlies” (Eph.2:6), we envision an ocean of your faithfulness, care, and grace below us. Here’s a pile of “stuff” me and my friends gladly want to cast, Abba, confident of your care-catching kindness.
- The tonnage of feeling responsible for anybody’s happiness and/or holiness.
- The weight and ache of unhealed traumas, health challenges, and heart-hurts.
- A backpack stuffed with fears, regrets, resentments, and “what if’s.”
- A second backpack crammed with envy, discontent, ingratitude, and Gospel-amnesia.
- A deceptively heavy fanny-pack of angst about politics, government, leaders, and the future.
Only your shoulders are broad enough, arms strong enough, and heart big enough to take care of all this Abba. Thank you and So Very Amen.
