The Christian life, like any other sort, can be tough; if anyone would preach that knowing Christ will produce nothing but easy-going blessings, they are wrong. Whether due to financial strain, family drama, relational breakdowns, occupational stress, self-image issues, or countless other various maladies of the soul, people often worry.
The gamut of worry runs wide between circumstances, objects, people, and futures. At times, the weight of anxiety can seem too heavy to bear. However, the Bible proclaims that there is something we can do about the stress of our Earthly existence:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” — 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
This passage is in the midst of a letter written by the apostle Peter that contains very practical information and advice for the early church. In context, it is fleshed out even more fully as a part of scripture wonderfully evident as still being relevant to our everyday Christian lives, in between admonishing followers to humble themselves so that God may lift them up, along with a warning concerning the devil prowling as a roaring lion for those to devour. Verse seven, specifically, at first may seem like a simple stress-busting tidbit, but truly has some profound messages at work for our faith as well.
Relationship
Just as Jesus had an intimate relationship with his Father, so too can we approach the Lord in relationship. Many believers may see God as being distant, even disinterested, despite the Bible’s emphatic proclamations of his deep, abounding, day-by-day love for every human being. This verse is among those that point to a personal relationship that can be had with Jesus Christ; one in which not only does Jesus care about our every worry, because he cares about us personally, but one in which we can communicate those concerns directly to him, no matter how big or small. This verifies the closeness that can be had in Christian faith between the divine and the human.
Freedom
The word “cast” or one of its variants (such as “casting”) is used in many translations of this verse, including the English Standard, King James, and New American Standard versions. This term has a stronger, more abrupt meaning than similar verbs such as “share” or “offer.” This is a verse that not only calls us to communicate our troubles and fears to the Lord, but to completely abandon them; much like throwing a stone into the ocean, the intention is complete separation, never to see the object again. This verse calls Christians to completely get rid of their worries, giving them to God without holding on to any portion of them. There is a great freedom that can be found in this catharsis.
Practicality
Hundreds upon hundreds of years before human beings resorted to medication, therapy, or other modern means to combat the effects of anxiety and stress, Peter offers an answer. Because we live in an imperfect world, alongside sinful humans, there will always be troubles and tribulations. This has always been true, and Peter recognized the need to address these problems, especially in light of the eternal importance of the evangelical mission of the early church. What he saw as the best advice still stands today: Give it to God. Letting go of worry does not necessarily mean that life will suddenly improve or that circumstances will instantly shift; but what it does mean is that the person enduring challenges need no longer have stress as an additional weight or barrier toward their betterment. As we now know, stress is never a good thing, and holding onto worry will never be beneficial. Christians, especially, are called to learn how to cast their cares upon God in order to better go about living their lives in faith.
This passage, 1 Peter 5:7, is a wonderful verse in the Bible. It echoes the “do not worry” message preached by Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount, as told in Matthew 6:25-24. It speaks to the soulful truth of Genesis 1:27, in which God creates humankind in his images; in this case, showing the characteristic of personal care as one that can be exemplified by both God and humanity. And as Ecclesiastes 1:9 testifies to the truth that there will always be trouble in this world and that stress is nothing new, this little verse in 1 Peter confirms that we should learn how to deal with the worry that is inevitable, rather than try to avoid it. Fortunately, we have the blessing of the availability of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, granting us a vessel upon which to cast such cares.
