Just stand

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 Jesus does his best as things unfold. The obedience we manifest today might not solve all the problems we are facing, but that tiny bit of obedience today leads to God's big interventions tomorrow and on down the road. We need to learn that God really does care about us - these are more than mere words that sound good. They are truth and we need to allow them to become reality in our lives.

I have frequent spoken of roots - deep roots find what they are after - nourishment and refreshment. God's plan is for troubles or worries to drive our roots deeper, but too frequently we focus on the problem and forget that we could tap into something much greater than the problem if we just keep ourselves 'rooted' in Jesus. Truth is that we rarely get life 'perfect', right? If we do our best, then give God the ability and 'permission' to actually do what he does best, we might just find ourselves a little less anxious, more at peace with our circumstances, and deeply 'solid' in our faith. 

When we have done all God asks, then we stand. We stand in faith, stronger than we look, and even stronger than we may feel at times. God will work out the rest, but we have to give him the chance to do 'his thing'. It is likely time we all learn to trust God with what we cannot do, what we might have tried to 'overdo', and just stand. Just sayin!

The first step

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. (Herman Hesse)

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Too many times we hold onto our mistakes, focusing all our thought and attention on them instead of what Christ wants to do with them. He actually wants to use them as a catapult to move us forward, not anchor us to the past. God is always doing something new - reminding us to forget what lies in the past and focus on the new (Isaiah 43:18-19). God is making a way forward, but we have to step out into it if we are to ever be free of our past. When we focus on today, we are letting go of those things we are unable to change and leaning into what God wants to do with and through us today. 

Psalm 55:22 tells us to cast our burdens on the Lord so that he can sustain us. In other words, we 'throw off' what is not useful and move toward what is most promising - Christ's grace, provision, and purpose. Some of us are still trying to make sense of some hurt or hang-up in our past, all the while missing out on what God is so eager to do in our present. Sometimes we just need to let go of the drive to understand - to make sense of it all. We may never fully appreciate the things that created such disappointment or disgust in our lives, so we must not dwell upon them. 

When we begin to put all our cares and worries about those things upon the shoulders of Christ, we let the one who can bear that burden carry it. How do we do that? 'Cast' carries the idea of putting forth effort in order to no longer be in control of what we once held so closely. We no longer desire to carry the thing - so we throw it far from us. It isn't useful to us; therefore, it needs to be removed as far from us as possible. No one moves forward until they unburden themselves from the past. Maybe our way forward begins with the first step of letting go of the burden of our mistakes. Just sayin!

Toiling or Trusting?

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7)

If you are anything like me, you have those moments of worry or doubt that plague you from time to time. As much as you want to trust God for the outcome, you just find it hard to let go of the worry. You mull over the stuff until it is a constant nagging in your brain and your heart. A sense of God's wholeness is the furthest thing you are experiencing at that moment, but it is the one thing you long for more than anything. So, how do we go from being so overwhelmed by the circumstances of life to the place where we sense his wholeness in our lives? Maybe it comes when we are finally willing to let God know our concerns, not holding them so close to the breast, and really 'get real' with him about the things that give us so much anxious concern.

I looked at this passage in many different translations this morning, but one thing stood out to me from The Living Bible: "6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus." We are actually supposed to tell God our needs - not just stew in them. We are to follow our asking with our thanksgiving, because God has never once failed to be concerned about what concerns us. The thing I realized that this is a conditional passage - there is that "If you do this..." portion that makes it conditional. If we bring our concerns to him with an attitude of thanksgiving for the answers, we experience his peace. It isn't thanksgiving for what he has done, but what he will do. In other words, we thank him in advance of the answer.

Is that kind of foreign to some of us? We were likely raised to thank someone when they did something for us, but to thank them in advance of the answer...do we do this that often? If we bring God our concerns, believing he will answer, we find thanksgiving in ADVANCE of the fulfillment of the need comes naturally. Why? We have learned to trust that God is as concerned about what concerns us as we are! He wants to deal with those concerns and we can know his peace, as a result. What this does for us is keep our hearts and minds at rest - we no longer 'toil over' those plaguing thoughts any longer. We allow God to do the 'toiling' while we stand 'trusting' him to do so. Just sayin!

Give - not in part - but in whole

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (I Peter 5:7)

Anxieties and worries don't just disappear - they have to be dealt with, but it isn't always our effort that is needed to deal with them. All will probably agree that the most beneficial thing to do is to take them to God in prayer. Some will think there are going to be times when you just gotta fix things yourself. I have to challenge that this morning. There is never a time when our anxieties and worries are best dealt with in our own power. As we take them to God in prayer, there will be times when he asks us to do something, but that doesn't mean we are 'fixing' the problem on our own. It means we were humble enough to recognize we don't possess all the knowledge, have all the power, or understand fully how to 'deal with' the issue at hand - then when God tells us how to deal with it, we do as we are told!

Sometimes we will be told to lay it right there at the foot of the cross and leave it alone. We are supposed to take our hands off of the issue and just let God be God. At others, he will show us where we may take action, then we are supposed to take it. Probably one other thing occurs as we take these things to God - he shows us where any of those anxieties or worries are 'unfounded' - our mind working things over and over again until we are tied up in knots. The anxiety is real - we get so emotionally invested in what is churning within our minds and hearts, that we just cannot stop it. It is like a self-fueling fire - it just doesn't burn out or go away. Those are the worries we definitely don't want to carry - for they will consume us if we continue to carry them ourselves.

Notice that God doesn't tell us to give him the worries and cares that we don't think we can deal with on our own. He tells us to give him ALL of them - the big and little ones, the real and imagined ones, the ones that leave us hurting and the ones that bring fear. ALL of them - none excluded. He may take some and work on them himself. He may show us where we can take action ourselves - but it doesn't mean we still carry the worry ourselves. It means he is enabling us to take the necessary steps to be free of those worries once and for all. For example, if we are in debt, we bring that worry to God and he may ask us to cut up our credit cards - to begin to live within our means. The debt will be worked off in time - maybe because he helps us find a debt consolidation program, or a second job, or overtime at our present one. We do what he tells us to do - but not before we take the worry to him.

Give ALL to him - hold nothing back. Don't believe the self-help gurus who proclaim "God helps those who help themselves" because that is nowhere in the Bible! Just sayin!

I need to talk to you about this, God...

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7)

What makes you anxious? There is something - even if you are the most well-balanced, totally 'put together' individual. It might not be consistent, but there is some stress in your life on occasion that makes you a bit on edge. There are others of us that are anxious all the time - there is not a moment that you don't feel 'on edge' and about to be crushed by the stress you feel. Anxiety is a feeling that impacts our functioning - at least at some point in our lives. God wants to address that anxiety - through is Word, by his presence, and with his overwhelming peace that cannot be moved by anything.

There will always be 'forces' attacking us. When it is only one thing that causes us stress, we can usually handle it. When the attacks come to us on many fronts, we can become overwhelmed by the multitude of 'forces' moving against us. Stress mounts, building to levels that make it hard to even 'think through' the issues at hand. Been there, done that, bought the shirt, wore it out! Anxiety isn't a sin - it comes to all of us. It is a signal something is about to occur that must be addressed. What we do with it when it comes is the important thing we must address. 

We are in need of time with God - taking the things that are about to overwhelm us to him. If we fail to take this much needed time, what happens? The anxiety builds and builds, until we are about to 'go under' because of the intensity of feelings associated with it. God wants to hear about the things that give us 'cause to pause'. Pause for what? To talk with God about the things that are bugging you! We may feel it is not important to pray about the things that cause us stress - that we somehow have to figure it out ourselves. The truth is that God wants to hear all about it.

God doesn't want us to meditate on the negative - the things that give us anxiety - but to talk with him about them. Why? These thoughts are not good for us - he wants us to move into the power of a sound mind. Prayer (talking with God) breaks the hold these thoughts have on us. No prayer - no peace. That may seem a bit harsh, but things unspoken, dwelt upon over and over again, will eventually overwhelm us. To admit we don't know what to do, that we don't feel we have what it takes, isn't a sign of weakness - it is a sign of strength. We admit we need our mind renewed. A change of thought pattern is often the beginning of the deliverance we desire, but we won't change that pattern alone. We need God and his peace. Just sayin!

My what big teeth you have, Mr. Wolf

Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin. (Psalm 55:22)

Virgil was a Roman poet way back in the day and he penned the words, "It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be." Ponder that one for a moment and really let it sink in. The wolf is not put off by the huge flock of sheep - he sees the one he is after and then he zeroes in to achieve his target. What he doesn't know is that there is a Shepherd keeping his eye out for each and every one of those sheep in the flock! He has no clue what will await him if he chooses to attack even one of them!

We will know troubles - it is inescapable in this world. We will have things that make us worry a bit - it is human nature to do so. We will encounter wolves and become frightened by their 'huge teeth' - it is part of our fight or flight response. We don't have to fear the troubles, nor do we have to create our own way of escape. That is the main difference between believers and those who have yet to choose to follow Christ. We have been given a watchful Shepherd - one who has no other aim than to keep the wolves away.

So why do we pile one worry upon the other until we are so laden down with cares that our movement is made impossible? If ever we would be subject to an enemy's attack, it would be with our arms so full and our eyes so distracted that we didn't even notice his approach! God's intent was for us to have open and honest dialogue with him - so many of our worries and cares coming because we neglect this one privilege. There is something 'disarming' that happens when we open up to God - one by one the worries we have been amassing begin to be laid at his feet, until we finally begin to feel the freedom of being 'unburdened'. The lightness that comes as those burdens are eased off our shoulders and placed squarely upon his is really like none other.

The wolf preys on those who haven't learned to lay ease those burdens from their heart to the heart of Jesus. He knows how full our hearts, minds, arms, and emotions become when we refuse to let go. That is the planned moment of his attack - when we are so filled up with worries we forget to watch out for him. The good news is that even when we forget to watch, Jesus doesn't! Just sayin!

I will cast my cares on you

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't going to be "fixed" because I am losing sleep ruminating on them!  When I place them squarely into the strong hands of Jesus, they are lifted from my mind, releasing my body (and soul) to finally rest.

The words of the chorus which speak the loudest to me in the "quietest of times" are the ones about God being the anchor of my hope - the only one who is actually totally in control!  Why do those words mean so much to me?  I am one of those people who thinks they can find the solutions to things - and many times God guides me to do just that.  I can never forget he is the one guiding me into those solutions, though!  It isn't because I "control" the situation, or really influence the outcome.  It is simply me yielding to his direction, giving way to his plans - this how the the solutions come.

An anchor holds one firm - so the things attempting to set us adrift don't actually accomplish that feat.  When an anchor is firmly planted, it has the ability to hold well beyond the weight of the anchor.  I am amazed at the "smallness" of the anchor in comparison to the "vastness" of the ship!  It isn't the size of the anchor, it is the "hold" the anchor obtains when it is allowed to do what it was designed to do.  When we anchor our thoughts in Christ, we find our mind wanders less into places it should not be, entertaining thoughts not meant for us to entertain.  When we anchor our hope in Christ's ability and not our own, we find we have a hold not easily broken, even when the realization of the goal is still not present with us.

As our passage points out today, we are the object of God's personal concern (his personal care).  The "casting" of one's cares upon him is really allowing our hearts, minds, and souls to take "anchor" in the "solidness" of his care.  We stop trying to find "anchor" in our own solutions, and we allow the "hold" we seek to be found in him.  We can try to figure life out on our own, or we can allow our lives to be kept from being set adrift by anchoring into the hope we have in his ability and carefulness over our lives.  I choose the latter - even if it means I have to keep reminding myself where my anchor is secured over and over again until my mind catches up with my heart!  Just sayin!