The Plumbline

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (I Peter 5:7) All, not just some. Give them all to God. Seems easy enough, right? Nope! It isn't all that easy because we have this tendency to 'hold onto' just a few more worries than we should. The trouble with that is we aren't allowing the one who can 'take care' of them to handle them. Taking on the burden of those cares is not our 'duty' or even our 'privilege'. It is sin! God tells us to give him all our cares, so when we hold onto them so tightly, worrying them along, we get buried under a load of weight, some of which is the guilt we experience by not letting them go.  Our shoulders weren't meant to bear that burden. All we can do in life is our 'best', then we leave the rest to Jesus. If we have done our part, we need to allow him to do his. The issue comes when we think 'our part' goes way beyond where it should go. Our 'best' is done now, then ...

 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) I imagine one of the hardest things we can 'learn' in life is the act of trusting when you aren't too sure what is going on around or within you. Some of our worries and anxieties are because there are numerous external forces at work that we see, but may not fully understand. At others, our worries are much more 'covert' - we 'feel' them, but we don't have a clue why they are there. These can be a result of circumstances, but they can also be a result of some internal conflict that is putting our emotions through their paces. How does one get to the place of 'not worrying' when life seems to be creating chaos, or our emotions are in a muddle? If you are like ...

So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.  (I Peter 5:6-7 PHILLIPS)   There is a song which comes to me, many times in the wee hours of the dark night when I am just there in bed, awake for no apparent reason with my head rushing from one thought to another.  It is the song "Cast My Cares".  The chorus is my favorite part of the song: " I will cast my cares on you. You're the anchor of my hope, the only one who's in control. I will cast my cares on you. I'll trade the troubles of this world for your peace inside my soul ."  The song is written by Blake Neesmith, Casey Brown, and Sam Tinnesz - three individuals singing as "Finding Favour".  I am not sure why this song repeatedly comes to mind in those hours, but I think you know where I am going with this - those things running around in my head aren...