“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

(1 Peter 5:7)

Like most beautiful verses that we find encouragement from, this isn’t a “stand-alone“ verse. There’s a context to it. Peter begins the passage by saying humble yourselves – before each other and before God.

Clothed with humility

“Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another” (1 Peter 5:5)

The phrase “clothe yourselves ” is the translation of a rare word that depicts a servant putting on an apron before serving, as Jesus did before washing the disciple’s feet (John 13:4)

It is being willing to do even the lowest tasks to love and serve others.

“If you are willing to be nothing God will make something of you. The way to the top of the ladder is to begin at the lowest round. In fact in the church of God, the way up is to go down; but he that is ambitious to be at the top will find himself before long at the bottom.”

(Spurgeon)

Humble Before God

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6)

Real humility before God is demonstrated by submission. It is the ability to put aside our own agenda for God’s, even if God’s agenda does look the way we think it should.

True humility is the ability to cast all our care upon God. The opposite of this is to take matters into our own hands, worrying and stressing about things that God has promised to take care of (Matthew 6:31-34)

“Casting” is an interesting choice of word. He doesn’t say “lay all your care on him”. To cast something means to energetically throw it away from yourself. The pressures and burdens of life are heavy and difficult, so it takes great and very deliberate effort to cast them on Jesus.

The opposite of humility is pride, and is something we all suffer from, even though we don’t always realise it. We call it by trendier names, such as independence, or self-sufficiency. A phrase that has been doing the rounds the past decade is “you are enough”. Humility is recognising that “I am not enough,” because without Jesus I can do nothing (John 15:5)

“For He cares for you”

This simple little phrase speaks volumes. It isn’t that God merely cares about you. He cares for you. Another way to say this is “he takes care of you.”

Why would we want to try to muddle through life all in our own steam, when we have a mighty God who loves us and takes care of us? All we need to do from our side is to humbly cast all our worries and anxieties on him.

Jill 💜