Cast All Your Anxiety On Him
~ Today’s Scripture Art and mini Bible study were designed to help you learn HOW to cast your anxiety on Him. ~
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We are digging into some good stuff for our Fear and Anxiety Project today.
Pull up a shovel! Prepare for fascinating!
The first verse about anxiety I want you to see is …
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV): Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
Ah, a well-known and well-loved verse.
Peter was quoting Psalm 55:22, which is …
The second verse I want you to see:
Psalm 55:22 (ESV): Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
What is your first thought after reading those verses today?
Easier said than done?
The question that popped into my head was:
What exactly does it look like to cast all your anxiety on Him?
What does God want it to look like?
Let’s see what we can find out.
The reason I picked this verse today is because I read a blog post by Holley Gerth titled: What Beats Fear. She said a couple of things that got my brain rolling …
“Fear is inevitable, but shame over it is optional. Fear is wired into our very brains, into the most primitive part of us. This is not a mistake on the part of our Maker. It is strategic so that we survive. God knows this and He has compassion, not condemnation, toward our fear. I discovered when He says, “Do not fear” to someone in Scripture it is almost always to someone who is already afraid. It is not a rebuke but a reassurance.”
Wait – it’s not a rebuke?
Maybe we just feel like it is because we have to keep learning it over and over.
Or maybe I should just speak for myself. {grin}
Today’s verse reminds us that He cares for us.
That is clear throughout the Bible, not just in this verse.
We also need to keep in mind that parents rebuke their children for running in the street because they care for them and know what’s best for them.
Right?
Let’s do some more digging.
Most versions of the Bible have today’s verse as the extension of a sentence that started in verse six. So let’s read the whole sentence …
1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV): Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Ok. Do you remember sentence diagramming? Think back to middle school. Wait – stick with me! I promise this will only take a sec.
All I want to do is put this sentence in it’s most simplified state – down to the root (had to say it since we are digging).
That would be …
Humble yourselves.
All the rest of that long sentence tells you either HOW to humble yourself or WHERE or WHY.
Go ahead, read it again and check my work.
The part of that sentence we’re talking about today (casting all your anxieties on Him) falls into the HOW category.
I find this fascinating!
How can we humble ourselves?
Cast our anxieties on God – not keep them (aka worry).
And we all know that God wants us to become humble (James 4:6). Maybe a little anxiety will teach us?
Fascinating, I tell ya!
My Life Application Study Bible says, “Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let Him help you. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don’t submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.”
Speaking of “don’t submit to circumstances” …
Holley Gerth also said, “Fear is a chihuahua that sounds like a doberman. But here’s the secret: it’s toothless. The worst it can do is scare us away from God’s best for our lives. It has no real power. Face it with faith and it will back down every time.”
Let’s not let fear scare us away from God’s best for us.
Today’s verse tells us to move from trusting in our own resources and our own strategies for life, to resting in God and His resources.
This requires the deliberate release of control and the intentional placement of worries and concerns upon God.
Let’s circle back.
Remember our first question: Easier said than done?
Well, we now know that the reason it has been “easier said than done” to cast our anxiety on Him is because we’re not humble. We’re not resting in Him.
We want control.
Anytime we have to have control, we are NOT being humble.
And our second question: What does casting your anxiety on God actually look like?
It looks like releasing control and trusting God.
Trusting and humility go hand in hand.
Practically speaking, I find it helps to camp out in His Word – prayerfully reading and not closing my Bible until I can truly release it to Him.
God’s Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and it can change us so that we realize …
We can trust God and humbly cast our anxiety on Him.
I pray this study in 1 Peter began that change in you!
Want to go camp out in His Word right now?
Try our Fear Not Scripture Writing Plan!
*My prayer for you is … that this blog will inspire you to open your Bible every single day to seek God’s face and write His Word on your heart – because HE’S the key to lasting heart change!
Comments for this post are HERE and HERE!
You might also enjoy these related posts:
Read > Got Peace? Why Not?
Read > Surrendering Fear – Is It Really Possible?
Check Out > My Personal Bible Study Method
Shop > Our Scripture Writing Journals!
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