1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
This is a wonderful that has much power in promise to us. Anxiety is part of human existence. Few people can live a care-free life. Anxiety is the feeling of stress that results when our plans are disrupted, sometimes by unknown events and sometimes by things we know will happen but we have no power to change them. There have been different points in my life when my anxiety and stress were very high. In fact, as I write this blog, my stress if very high from packing and traveling. The positive thing about anxiety is that it can motivate us to action. But anxiety can also be crippling emotionally and spiritually because we are tempted to solve our problems by our own power. Peter urges his readers to cast or throw their anxieties upon the Lord. The Lord can carry the load because He is capable. God has the power because God is the creator. God incarnated in Christ also knows our sorrows and pains. We do not walk alone because we have the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Advocate, with us. God shows care to us through tangible love, grace, and opportunity. We often miss this because we try to carry the load on our own. To cast our cares on Him requires that we trust Him. Faith has been a key topic of this letter and it shows up again in the background of this verse. Pain, sorrow, and suffering grow our faith. If we try to carry our pain, sorrow, and suffering by our own strength, we will grow more anxious to the point of even being spiritually, emotionally, and physically defeated.
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