Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
7. casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you ] The English version effaces a distinction in the Greek, the first word for “care” implying “distracting anxiety,” as in Mat 13:22; Mar 4:19; Luk 8:14; Luk 21:34, the latter conveying the idea simply of the care that foresees and provides, as in Mar 4:38; Joh 10:13; Joh 12:6. The thought expressed is accordingly that our anxiety is to be swallowed up in our trust in the loving Providence of the Father. Here again we have a quotation somewhat altered from the LXX. version (Psa 55:22), “Cast thy care upon the Lord and he shall nourish thee,” and in the warning against anxiety we may find an echo of the precepts against “taking thought” (where the Greek verb is formed from the same noun) in Mat 6:25-34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Casting all your care upon him – Compare Psa 55:22, from whence this passage was probably taken. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Compare, for a similar sentiment, Mat 6:25-30. The meaning is, that we are to commit our whole cause to him. If we suffer heavy trials; if we lose our friends, health, or property; if we have arduous and responsible duties to perform; if we feel that we have no strength, and are in danger of being crushed by what is laid upon us, we may go and cast all upon the Lord; that is, we may look to him for grace and strength, and feel assured that he will enable us to sustain all that is laid upon us. The relief in the case will be as real, and as full of consolation, as if he took the burden and bore it himself. He will enable us to bear with ease what we supposed we could never have done; and the burden which he lays upon us will be light, Mat 11:30. Compare the notes at Phi 4:6-7.
For he careth for you – See the notes at Mat 10:29-31. He is not like the gods worshipped by many of the pagan, who were supposed to be so exalted, and so distant, that they did not interest themselves in human affairs; but He condescends to regard the needs of the meanest of his creatures. It is one of the glorious attributes of the true God, that he can and will thus notice the needs of the mean as well as the mighty; and one of the richest of all consolations when we are afflicted, and are despised by the world, is the thought that we are not forgotten by our heavenly Father. He who remembers the falling sparrow, and who hears the young ravens when they cry, will not be unmindful of us. Yet the Lord thinketh on me, was the consolation of David, when he felt that he was poor and needy, Psa 40:17. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up, Psa 27:10.
Compare Isa 49:15. What more can one wish than to be permitted to feel that the great and merciful Yahweh thinks on him? What are we – what have we done, that should be worthy of such condescension? Remember, poor, despised, afflicted child of God, that you will never be forgotten. Friends on earth, the great, the frivilous, the noble, the rich, may forget you; God never will. Remember that you will never be entirely neglected. Father, mother, neighbor, friend, those whom you have loved, and those to whom you have done good, may neglect you, but God never will. You may become poor, and they may pass by you; you may lose your office, and flatterers may no longer throng your path; your beauty may fade, and your admirers may leave you; you may grow old, and be infirm, and appear to be useless in the world, and no one may seem to care for you; but it is not thus with the God whom you serve. When he loves, he always loves; if he regarded you with favor when you were rich, he will not forget you when you are poor; he who watched over you with a parents care in the bloom of youth, will not cast you off when you are old and grey-headed, Psa 71:18. If we are what we should be, we shall never be without a friend as long as there is a God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Casting all your care] . Your anxiety, your distracting care, on him, for he careth for you, , for he meddles or concerns himself, with the things that interest you. Whatever things concern a follower of God, whether they be spiritual or temporal, or whether in themselves great or small, God concerns himself with them; what affects them affects him; in all their afflictions he is afflicted. He who knows that God cares for him, need have no anxious cares about himself. This is a plain reference to Ps 55:22: Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee. He will bear both thee and thy burden.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Casting, as a burden, all your care upon him; your care for all sorts of things, even which concern this life, that care which will otherwise cut and divide your hearts, (as the Greek word in Matthew imports), and be grievous and tormenting to you.
For he careth for you; God concerns himself in the affairs of his servants, and in whatsoever befalls them, and takes diligent care that no good thing be wanting to them, Psa 84:11; Phi 4:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Castingonce for all:so the Greek aorist.
care“anxiety? Theadvantage flowing from humbling ourselves under God’s hand(1Pe 5:6) is confident relianceon His goodness. Exemption from care goes along with humblesubmission to God.
careth for youliterally”respecting you.” Care is a burden which faith castsoff the man on his God. Compare Psa 22:10;Psa 37:5; Psa 55:22,to which Peter alludes; Luk 12:22;Luk 12:37; Phi 4:6.
carethnot so strong aGreek word as the previous Greek “anxiety.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Casting all your care upon him,…. “Upon God”: as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions read. The words are taken out of, or at least refer to Ps 55:22, where, instead of “cast thy burden upon the Lord”, the Septuagint have it, “cast thy care upon the Lord”; the care of the body, and of all the affairs of life, concerning which saints should not be anxiously thoughtful, but depend upon the providence of God, though in the diligent use of means, which is not forbidden, nor discouraged by this, or any such like exhortation; as also the care of the soul, and the spiritual and eternal welfare of it, which should be committed into the hands of Christ, on whom help is laid, and who is become the author of eternal salvation; nor should this slacken and make persons negligent in the use of means, for the good, comfort, and advantage of their souls:
for he careth for you; for the bodies of his people, and their outward concerns of life, for food and raiment for them, and for the preservation of them, who will not suffer them to want, nor withhold any good thing from them, or ever leave them and forsake them; and for their souls, for which he has made provision in his Son, and in the covenant of his grace has laid help upon a mighty Saviour; and who has obtained an eternal redemption for them, bestows his grace upon them, and gives every needful supply of it to them, and keeps them by his power through faith unto salvation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Casting (). First aorist active participle of , old verb, to throw upon, in N.T. only here and Lu 19:35 (casting their clothes on the colt), here from Ps 55:22. For see Matt 6:25; Matt 6:31; Matt 6:34.
He careth ( ). Impersonal verb (present active indicative) with dative , “it is a care to him.” God does care (Lu 21:18).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Casting [] . The aorist participle denoting an act once for all; throwing the whole life with its care on him.
All your care [ ] . The whole of your care. “Not every anxiety as it arises, for none will arise if this transference has been effectually made.” Care. See on Mt 6:25, take no thought. Rev., rightly, anxiety.
He careth [] . Meaning the watchful care of interest and affection. The sixth and seventh verses should be taken together : Humble yourselves and cast all your anxiety. Pride is at the root of most of our anxiety. To human pride it is humiliating to cast everything upon another and be cared for. See Jas 4:6, 7.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Casting all your care upon him.” Peter’s exhortation continues (Greek epiripsantes) continually or repeatedly tossing or casting (Greek merimnan) the anxiety of you on Him –Jesus Christ. Psa 55:22; Psa 37:5; Pro 3:5-6.
2) “For he careth for you.” (Greek hoti auto melei) “because to him it matters” (Greek peri humon) “Concerning you.” Praise God He cares, Heb 13:5.
DOES JESUS CARE?
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song;
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?
Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear?
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?
Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed
To resist some temptation strong;
When for my deep grief there is no relief,
Tho’ my tears flow all the night long?
Does Jesus care when I’ve said “good-by”
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,
Is it aught to Him? Does He care?
0 yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long night dreary,
I know my Saviour cares.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7 Casting all our care He more fully sets forth here the providence of God. For whence are these proverbial sayings, “We shall have to howl among wolves,” and, “They are foolish who are like sheep, exposing themselves to wolves to be devoured,” except that we think that by our humility we set loose the reins to the audacity of the ungodly, so that they insult us more wantonly? But this fear arises from our ignorance of divine providence. Now, on the other hand, as soon as we are convinced that God cares for us, our minds are easily led to patience and humility. Lest, then, the wickedness of men should tempt us to a fierceness of mind, the Apostle prescribes to us a remedy, and also David does in Psa 37:5, so that having cast our care on God, we may calmly rest. For all those who recumb not on God’s providence must necessarily be in constant turmoil and violently assail others. We ought the more to dwell on this thought, that God cares for us, in order, first, that we may have peace within; and, secondly, that we may be humble and meek towards men.
But we are not thus bidden to cast all our care on God, as though God wished us to have strong hearts, and to be void of all feeling; but lest fear or anxiety should drive us to impatience. In like manner, the knowledge of divine providence does not free men from every care, that they may securely indulge themselves; for it ought not to encourage the torpidity of the flesh, but to bring rest to faith.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Casting all your care upon him.An adaptation of Psa. 55:22, according to the LXX. Anxiety implies not only some distrust of Gods providence, but also some kind of belief that we may be able to manage better for ourselves; therefore here, as in the Sermon on the Mount, we are exhorted, especially in time of danger, simply to do what we know we ought to do, and to be unheeding about the rest.
Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live.
The confidence cannot be misplaced, for God is not forgetful of us. The play of words in the English does not represent anything in the original, where the two words for care are quite different.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Casting Aorist: Casting off upon, once for all: casting off from yourselves the whole of your care and anxiety, and reposing it upon him. This does not mean every care as it arises, but it goes further back, to the laying of ourselves, with all that pertains to us, in God’s hands, in the fulness of a surrendering faith. If then some new subject of care arises, faith at once recognises it as belonging not to us but to him. So does most blessed, heavenly peace, reign within, under the knowledge that God careth for us, which is the reason for our not bearing the burden ourselves.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Pe 5:7. Casting all your care, &c. Your anxious care or solicitude. See on Mat 6:25.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 5:7 is closely connected with 1Pe 5:6 ; hence the participle. The idea and expression are taken from Ps. 54:23, LXX. ( ), although somewhat altered; : [275] “ your whole care ;” the singular unites all individual cares together into one uniform whole. Hofmann, without reason, assumes that in this passage does not mean care itself, but the object which causes care. The context shows that the care specially meant here is that which is occasioned by the sufferings; cf. Mat 6:25 ; Phi 4:6 .
. . .] “ for He careth for you ;” the same construction of the verb with occurs frequently in the N. T., e.g. Joh 10:13 ; , , “are intentionally brought together” (Wiesinger).
[275] Gerhard: “ significat curam sollicitam et dubiam, quae mentem in partes divisas velut dividit, a .”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2413
THE DUTY OF CASTING OUR CARE ON GOD
1Pe 5:7. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
INEXPERIENCED Christians are generally partial in their views of religion. They often exalt one duty, to the neglect, if not the exclusion of another: but a proficiency in the divine life will discover itself by the united exercise of the various, and apparently opposite, graces. Faith will not exclude fear, nor meekness fortitude. Every grace will be limited and tempered by some other. The soul must be humbled before God in dust and ashes: yet should it rely on him with most implicit confidence [Note: ver. 6, 7.].
I.
The duty of Christians
Christians have learned not to seek great things for themselves. Hence they are free from the corroding cares of avarice and ambition
But they still have many grounds of care
[They cannot but feel some concern respecting their bodily wants: the casualties of life may also occasion some uneasiness; but they have other cares far more weighty and important: they see many dishonouring their holy profession: they feel within themselves also an evil heart of unbelief; nor are they ignorant of Satans devices to overthrow them. Moreover they frequently anticipate future evils; and tremble, lest in the day of adversity they should faint. Thus do they torment themselves with anxious and desponding fears.]
It is their duty, however, to cast their care on God
[To cast their care upon any creature would be fruitless, and it would involve them in the deepest guilt [Note: Jer 17:5.]. God alone is able to sustain their burthen: on him they are commanded to cast it [Note: Psa 55:22.]: they must do so in the exercise of faith and prayer [Note: Php 4:6-7.]; nor are any cares whatever to be excepted, Cast all your care, &c.: none are so small but they shall be regarded, none so great but they shall be alleviated.]
There is a backwardness in many, to comply with this duty.
II.
Their encouragement to perform it
God extends his care to the whole creation; but in a more especial manner careth for his people
[He conducted the Jews through the wilderness: he interposed for them in all their dangers: he supplied their every want [Note: Psa 105:39-41.]. Thus, though less visibly, he still regards those who trust in him. He watches over them for good [Note: 2Ch 16:9.]: he limits and restrains all their adversaries [Note: Psa 76:10.]: he sympathizes with them in all their afflictions [Note: Isa 63:9. Heb 4:15.]: he imparts to them all temporal and spiritual blessings [Note: Psa 84:11.]: he hears and answers all their supplications [Note: Joh 15:7.]: he accounts them his most inestimable treasure [Note: Mal 3:17.]: he communes with them as his sons and daughters [Note: 2Co 6:18.]: he takes upon him the management of all their concerns [Note: Isa 46:4.].]
What encouragement does this afford us to trust in him!
Our Guardian and Protector is infinitely wise [Note: Isa 28:29.]
[He knows what trials we stand in need of: he can suit all the circumstances of them to our necessities: he can overrule them for our eternal benefit.]
He is possessed of almighty power [Note: Job 40:2.]
[There is no difficulty from which he cannot extricate [Note: Isa 50:2; Isa 43:13.], nor duty which he cannot enable us to discharge. Should we, for whom such wisdom and power are exercised, be anxious [Note: Isa 40:27-28.]?]
Moreover he is good and gracious
[What innumerable blessings has he already bestowed upon us! He has even given his own Son to die for us. What then can we have to fear, if we trust in him [Note: Rom 8:32.]?]
Above all, he is a faithful God
[He has promised seasonable protection and strength [Note: Isa 54:10. Deu 33:25. 1Co 10:13.]. And is not his word a sure ground of confidence [Note: 2Sa 22:31. Heb 10:23.]? Surely then we should be filled with consolation rather than with care [Note: Heb 6:18.].]
Infer
1.
How needful is it that all should acquaint themselves with God!
[Gaiety and dissipation may bear up the spirit in prosperity; but God alone can comfort us in adversity [Note: Job 35:10.]. At the hour of death we shall all need Divine support. Let the careless then begin to reflect upon their state: let them provide a refuge against the day of trouble: let them follow that salutary advice [Note: Job 22:21.].]
2.
How happy would Christians he if they rightly enjoyed their privileges!
[It is their privilege to be without carefulness [Note: 1Co 7:32.]. If they trusted in God as they ought, nothing could disturb them [Note: Isa 26:3.]. Hence that exhortation to joy in God [Note: Psa 5:11-12.]. Let the afflicted saints then commit themselves to him [Note: Mic 5:4.]: let them know that duty is theirs, but events are his: let them, in the face of all difficulties, adopt the words of Joshua [Note: Num 14:9.]: let them, with Hezekiah, repose themselves on God [Note: 2Ch 32:7-8.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Ver. 7. Casting all your care ] Your carking care, your care of diffidence. I will now with you sing away care, said John Careless, martyr, in a letter to Mr Philpot, for now my soul is turned to her old rest again, and hath taken a sweet nap in Christ’s lap. I have cast my care upon the Lord which careth for me, and will be careless, according to my name. It is our work, saith another, to cast care; it is God’s work to take care. Let us not, by our soul dividing thoughts, take his work out of his hand.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7 .] casting (aor., once for all, by an act which includes the life) all your anxiety ( , ‘the whole of;’ not, every anxiety as it arises: for none will arise if this transference has been effectually made. This again is an O. T. citation (ref. Ps.), . The art. also shews that the was not a possible, but a present one; that the exhortation is addressed to men under sufferings. As to the connexion, we may remark, that this participial clause is explanatory of the former imperative one, inasmuch as all anxiety is a contradiction of true humility: , by which the spirit , part for God, part for unbelief, is in fact an exalting self against Him) upon Him, because (seeing that: the justifying reason for the ) He careth ( prefixed for emphasis, to take up the ) for (about: the distinction between and after verbs of caring is thus given by Weber, Demosth. p. 130 (see Winer, 47. l ): “ solam mentis circumspectionem vel respectum rei, simul animi propensionem significat.” But perhaps it must not be too much pressed) you .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 5:7 . comes from Psa 55:12 , , which is the source of part of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 6:25 ff.). substituted for of Ps. l.c. in accordance with Jesus’ amplification and application of the metaphor. God cares for His flock as the hireling shepherd does not ( , Joh 10:13 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Casting . . . upon. Greek. epirripto. Only here and Luk 19:35.
care = anxiety. Compare Php 1:4, Php 1:6.
upon. Greek. epi. App-104. The same prep, as is seen in the verb.
for. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7.] casting (aor., once for all, by an act which includes the life) all your anxiety ( , the whole of; not, every anxiety as it arises: for none will arise if this transference has been effectually made. This again is an O. T. citation (ref. Ps.), . The art. also shews that the was not a possible, but a present one; that the exhortation is addressed to men under sufferings. As to the connexion, we may remark, that this participial clause is explanatory of the former imperative one, inasmuch as all anxiety is a contradiction of true humility: , by which the spirit , part for God, part for unbelief, is in fact an exalting self against Him) upon Him, because (seeing that: the justifying reason for the ) He careth ( prefixed for emphasis, to take up the ) for (about: the distinction between and after verbs of caring is thus given by Weber, Demosth. p. 130 (see Winer, 47. l): solam mentis circumspectionem vel respectum rei, simul animi propensionem significat. But perhaps it must not be too much pressed) you.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 5:7. , all your anxiety) If the world depresses you, or if many things are wanting to you.-, casting) boldly. [Exemption from anxieties is pre-eminently accordant with humility.-V. g.] Psa 55:22, Septuagint, , , Cast thine anxiety upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Casting, watch. There is a close agreement between these two duties, Luk 12:22; Luk 12:37; and Peter adds to each its own because. God provides: therefore do not be anxious. The devil seeks: therefore watch.-, there is a care) Not so strong a word as , anxiety.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Human Anxiety and Divine Care
Casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you.1Pe 5:7.
1. These words follow others of great significance: God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. The two verses taken together state this truth, that anxiety carries with it a division of faith between God and selfa lack of faith in God, proportioned to the amount of care which we refuse to cast on Him; an excess of self-confidence, proportioned to the amount which we insist on bearing ourselves. If we refuse to let God carry for us what He desires and offers to carry, pride is at the bottom of the refusal. Therefore, the Apostle says, Humble yourselves under Gods mighty hand. Confess the weakness of your hand. Do not try to carry the anxiety with your weak hand. Cast it all on Him. Believe that He cares for you, and be humbly willing that He should care for you.
2. The Revised Version has brought out a very important distinction by the substitution of anxiety for care. Anxiety, according to its derivation, is that which distracts and racks the mind, and answers better to the original word, which signifies a dividing thing, something which distracts the heart, and separates it from God. The word careth, on the other hand, used of God (he careth for you), is a different word in the original, and means supervising and fostering care, loving interest, such care as a father has for a child.
I
Human Anxiety
1. A famous man of letters said of the king whom he served [Louis xi.], I have seen him and been his servant in the days of his greatest prosperity, but never yet did I see him without uneasiness and care. Is that for kings only, or do king and subject meet at this point? Thackeray says of the world we all live in, This is Vanity Fair, not a moral place, certainly, and not a merry one though very noisy. A man as he goes about the show will not be oppressed by his own or other peoples hilarity. An episode of humour or of kindness touches or amuses him here and there, but the general impression is more melancholy than mirthful. Care would seem, then, to be a common plague, which, late or soon, begins to furrow every face; and most of us know so much of it and so little of its remedy, that it may well seem wasted labour for a man to talk to his fellows of the cure of care.
Atra CuraBlack Carewas familiar to the light-hearted Roman poet. It was impossible to ride away from it; wherever the traveller went, it went with him.
Horses! landlord, and six good pair
To bear the old Lord back to town,
Far from the broad lands gay with clover,
Far from the rolling grassy down.
Flog the horses, post-boys, faster;
Let us fly like a ship before the wind,
In the heart of these dull old country mansions
The old Hag Care we have left behind.
Tis all in vain,
For close beside our sleeping master
There sits the old black Hag again.
After all these years of Christ the hard tyranny of circumstance is unloosened. Perhaps it never pressed so heavily as of late. Every morning there rises the great army of the careworn to take up the daily toils with sinking heart. Every day competition grows more savage, and success more difficult. Every day the sensibilities and aspirations of youth are being killed by the pressure of low necessities. What is music to the man waiting for the footfall of his creditor? What is poetry or philosophy to one intent on the fateful telegram which brings word that his venture has failed? We can live without poetry and religion and philosophy, such is the cry, but not without food or clothing or shelter, and these are at hazard. Many of the best hearts in the world are broken by such thoughts, and even those in which life remains are well likened to houses in whose eaves the birds of care have built their nests, and where little can be heard but their importunate croakings.1 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll, Ten-Minute Sermons, 27.]
2. But let us distinguish. There is a proper care, a care that is praiseworthy. The best Christians see that life is scarcely possible and certainly is not useful without some amount of pains. In fact, the chief difference between the man whose life is a noble Christian benefaction and the man whose life is a miserable heathenish failure is that the one is careful and the other is careless. In this sense, care means the diligent use of our faculties. It is the scrupulous discharge of every trust by the good steward and soldier of Jesus Christ. It gathers up the fragments that nothing may be lost. It creates industry, economy, tidiness, the maintenance of families, integrity; and these are all Christian virtues. Any lack of them dishonours God. Disorder, unthrift, uncleanliness, waste, in any house, are vices; and they all follow from carelessness. No amount of religious sentiment will justify them. Care in this sense is what distinguishes the household of a Christian family from the cabin of a barbarian. All growth in goodness, victory over temptation, conversion of bad habits, every kind of human excellence, comes by painstaking; that is, by care. A negligent or improvident Christian is a blemish in the Body of Christ, which ought to be without spot or wrinkle, clean and whole.
You are living not only where you are, but away in another land where your boy is, and you cannot help thinking of the unknown dangers and temptations which may assail him; you feel them lurking like shadows in the corner, threatening you because they concern him. And that is not fault; it is life, it is love, it is motherhood. And the knowledge that you do thus care, and that his disgrace would strike you like a wound, is one of the powers which keep him back from evil. We have other relations within the narrower and wider communities in which our life has grown, but in them all the same assertion holds; and he who takes his place in Church, or town, or nation, lazily, caring only for what affects himself, and unconcerned by any public danger, is rightly marked for mens contempt. He is not half a man; for a man lives in his community; sharing its burdens, rejoicing in its successes, putting life and thought at its disposal for ends beyond his own advantage. That is how men are made, and it is also how the stiff world is driven forward along ways of progress. For care is one of Gods chief disciplines in fashioning the character of men.1 [Note: W. M. Macgregor, Some of Gods Ministries, 247.]
3. There is also an improper carethe anxiety of the text. It clings to us as a creature of this world clings to this world. It hinders the affections when they try to rise heavenward, and drags them back. It doubts whether Christ is still near at hand and His grace sufficient. It reads the glorious promises of the Gospel with an absent mind, like some unreal legend. It murmurs fretfully, No trial is like my trial; other troubles I could bear; this has no explanation, no profit, and turns no side of it to the sun. It grinds at every kind of work it undertakes as in a treadmill, under a taskmaster, rejoicing in no liberty, animated with no hope. All crosses are compulsory. Some cares shoot through us like shocks of neuralgic pain, making us quiver and tremble, as when great griefs concentrate their torture upon us. Other cares press with silent, leaden weights, like the dull aching of the head that drains vigour, drop by drop, out of the brain and all the drooping dependencies of nerve and limbs. The forms of the burden vary. But the heaviness of them all is the hearts distance from God. The sun is hid. There is no wide horizon, no light springing of the will, no joy to break the bondage of the law. This is earthly care, unprofitable, unreasonable, unholy carethe care that wears out men and women before their time, the care that sours and saddens Gods world, the care that slowly kills the body under the name of a thousand different diseases, and is the beginning of death to the spirit. It is the care you can not, only because you will not, cast upon Him who careth for you.
Brought up in the school of Presbyterian Moderatism, her [Professor Sellars mother] piety was cheerful, humble, and reserved, and drew its strength from certain chapters of the New Testament, and its emotion from the beloved Scottish Paraphrases. These we read to her the last thing before she was left for the night, but if her maid happened to come into the room at the time, she would motion to the reader to stop, and make anxious inquiries if there were rizzered haddocks and other essentials for the gentlemens breakfast. Then with a little apologetic sign she would say, Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts be troubled or dismayedbut I wish I were sure that my sons were quite comfortable!1 [Note: Mrs. Sellar, Recollections and Impressions, 235.]
Be not much troubled about many things,
Fear often hath no whit of substance in it,
And lives but just a minute;
While from the very snow the wheat-blade springs.
And light is like a flower,
That bursts in full leaf from the darkest hour.
And He who made the night,
Made, too, the flowery sweetness of the light.
Be it thy task, through His good grace, to win it.2 [Note: Alice Cary.]
II
Divine Care
1. As already noticed, St. Peter at this point makes a significant change of word; he has spoken of our distracting care (a word in its etymology related to the common verb to divide), which will not suffer us to be a whole man to any one concern, but keeps us anxiously considering and forecasting risks elsewhere. But Gods care has nothing of this distraction in it; He cares for each as if there were no other life under His charge, and when you meet Him it is an undivided heart that meets you. He cares not anxiously for you.
This word careth is a far nobler word than that translated anxiety (A.V. care) in the former part of the text. I like that phrase used by Jean Ingelow, Much thought is spent in heaven. It seems to express very largely what is meant by Divine careMuch thought is spent in heaven over us. This is the care that is the outcome of interest, regard, and love. Like it the care of the mother for her infant brings with it joy rather than distraction. Have you not noticed what a wonderful power such a care has to focus every emotion, every thought, and every faculty into one point? Ask the mother who cares for that little infant night and day how she views all. She will admit that the care of motherhood has its frets, doubtless, but amidst all she will indignantly deny that such a care distracts; the rather it brings into its channel every thought, every feeling, every energy. It is that which unites the whole being in one service of love. Is there any privilege to compare with such a care?1 [Note: D. Davies, Talks with Men, Women and Children, vi. 383.]
The old world looked upon Paradise as a place without care. It measured the majesty of the gods by their exemption from the cares of humanity. They dwelt on the top of Olympus, and rejoiced all the day in a sunshine whose cloudlessness was its carelessnessits absence of interest in the problems of human want, its recklessness of the fate of those who pine and suffer and die. But Christ opened the door of a new Paradise and let man see in. He gave to the human eye a totally different vision of the nature of Divine majesty. He showed that the majesty of God differed from the majesty of earthly kings not in having less, but in having more care. All earthly kinghood was defective by its inability to lift the whole burdens of a people; the government of the King of kings was supremely great because it could lift the burdens of all. That which distanced God from man was Gods greater power of drawing near to the souls of men. Man held aloof from his brother man, and he had made his gods in his own image; Christ revealed a new image of God, a new thought of the Divine. Christs majesty was the majesty of stooping; His cross was His crown. The sceptre which He wielded over humanity was the sceptre of love; because He was chief of all, He became the minister of all; because He was the ruler of all life, He gave His life a ransom for many.2 [Note: G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 259.]
Literally rendered, the verse reads, He has you on His heart. He who fed the prophet by the brook, and kept the widows cruse from wasting, and watched over the Israelites in the wilderness, and to whom even the sparrows fall is not unnoticedHe has us, each one, on His almighty heart. Why, then, should we be so feverishly anxious, and worry ourselves out of all peace of mind. Why be so foolish as to carry that which the Infinite One will carry for us? Why decline the privilege of casting our care on Him who has us on His heart? Let us lighten our load by making God our burden-bearer. Let me from this day take my family cares, and my business cares, and roll them all over by faith and prayer on God, and have no care left except the care to please and honour my Lord. It will be well to get rid of my spiritual anxieties, too, in the same way. Let me lay the care of bringing me through on God. Let me tell God about everything, and burden Him with everything. No more care, as the good Leighton says, but only quiet diligence in thy duty, and dependence on Him for the carriage of thy matter.
O Lord, how happy should we be
If we could cast our care on Thee,
If we from self could rest;
And feel at heart that One above,
In perfect wisdom, perfect love,
Is working for the best.1 [Note: S. L. Wilson, Helpful Words for Daily Life, 19.]
2. We need have no fear that the abandonment of our anxieties will leave us unprovided or undefended. Better provision will be made for us than we could possibly have contrived for ourselves. This is the wealth and the wonder of Gods compassion. Faithful hearts are not only freed from the painful pack that galled them, but, as if their deliverance were not enough, and as if one blessing were only a groundwork for another, the oversight and the foresight they needed are thenceforth furnished for them; patient and willing shoulders receive the load we threw down; eyes of sharper vigilance than ours watch for us. Simply because we are willing to loosen our troubles and let them fly, we have not only peace but plenty. Divine energies that never weary, fidelity that never flags, wisdom that never errs, and affections that never droop or wander, uphold us.
If the father is providing for to-morrows needs, why should his little boy leave his play, and lean pensively against the wall, wondering what had better be done? If the pilot has come on board, why should the captain also pace the deck with weary foot? If some wise, strong friend, thoroughly competent, has undertaken to adjust some difficult piece of perplexity for me, and if I have perfect confidence in him, and he assures me that he is well able to accomplish it, why should I fret longer? The thing is as good as done, since he has taken it in hand.
(1) Gods care is the care of a Father.The God whom we need to help our care is the Father whom Jesus discovered to men. He Himself grasped at multitudes, but He dealt with individuals, giving Himself to each as if there were no other in the world, and emboldening St. Thomas and all the host of his successors in the use of singular pronouns, My Lord and my God, said St. Thomas; He gave himself for me, said St. Paul. For there was nothing indiscriminate or impersonal in the ways of Jesus, and He taught men that each one of them counts as a separate person with God. If that is true it carries with it everything. The good news takes the sting out of all that men call evil fortune. If He spared not His Son, He will surely with Him give us all things freely. That is the God whom Jesus has brought to us, and in whom we may rest without dismay.
My child is lying on my knees,
The signs of Heaven she reads:
My face is all the Heaven she sees
Is all the Heaven she needs.
And she is well, yea, bathed in bliss,
If Heaven is in my face
Behind it all is tenderness,
And truthfulness and grace.
I mean her well so earnestly,
Unchanged in changing mood;
My life would go without a sigh
To bring her something good.
I also am a child, and I
Am ignorant and weak;
I gaze upon the starry sky,
And then I must not speak.
For all behind the starry sky,
Behind the world so broad,
Behind mens hearts and souls, doth lie
The Infinite of God.
If true to her, though dark with doubt
I cannot choose but be,
Thou, who dost see all round about,
Art surely true to me.
If I am low and sinful, bring
More love where need is rife;
Thou knowest what an awful thing
It is to be a Life.
Hast Thou not wisdom to enwrap
My waywardness around,
And hold me quietly on the lap
Of Love without a bound?
And so I sit in Thy wide space,
My child upon my knee;
She looketh up into my face,
And I look up to Thee.1 [Note: George MacDonald.]
(2) He is a God who considers the least as much as the greatest.There is a tendency in the human mind to treat God in a wrong way, as such an one as ourselves. We are impressed by size, by immensity, by that which in some overwhelming manner touches the imagination. The lofty mountains, the far-expanding sea, the rolling thunders, the immensity of space, the stretching years of timethese touch us. We allow ourselves to suppose that God indeed in His greatness can be moved by a thought of innumerable material worlds, but scarcely by a human anxiety. We do dishonour to God. True greatness consists not only in command of vast views, but also in grasp of details. Gods glorious work is as glorious in the colouring of the grass and the painting of the flowers as in the outline of the varied landscape. We are unjust to God, and we must feel that we are unjust if we allow ourselves to think at all. From our better self we read something of His character.
Will the father who is employed all day in dealing with some vast system of accounts, or some scheme for a nations progress, be really less earnest about the sick child by whose bed he kneels when he is home again at night? Will the man who has to fulfil many functions all day long, meet the demands of business, bend his mind to give a dozen judgments, write letters arranging various matters of large interest, which involve many responsibilitieswill he really be less earnest about the joys and sorrows of the little girl who has her perplexities or troubles in the schoolroom, about the boy who is separated from him and at some humble work across rolling seas and distant continents?
The whole current of modern thought runs against this faith. It insists on the insignificance of man. It emphasizes the question which Pascal shuddered at. What are we, shut in and lost amidst these frightful wastes of space, encompassed by flaming and unknown worlds? As Mark Rutherford has said, Our temptation is to doubt whether it is of the smallest consequence whether we are or are not, and whether our being here is not an accident. The one answer is that for us Christ died. When we turn to the New Testament, we find the unseen ranks of good and evil contending for our souls, and every victory and every defeat an incident in the war of wars. The battle with flesh and blood, which often seems so sore, is hardly worth naming in presence of the graver struggle. Our fight is with principalities and powers, with the spiritual hosts of wickedness. Angels have charge concerning us. They whisper with saving voices when we are on the edge of peril. They bring back the words of Jesus in hours of despondency and gloom. They watch and rejoice over every movement of purity and tenderness. We belong, in a word, to God and Christ and the angels, and though here accounted nothing, it is otherwise in worlds where the measures are true.1 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll.]
My fathers note on The Childrens Hospital is: A true story told me by Mary Gladstone. The doctors and hospital are unknown to me. The two children are the only characters, in this little dramatic poem, taken from life.
Miss Gladstones letter ran thus:
There was a little girl in the hospital, and as the doctor and nurse passed by her bed they stopped, for her eyes were shut and they thought she was asleep. We must try that operation to-morrow, he said, but I am afraid she will not get through it. I forget what the child said, until Annie the girl in the next bed suddenly suggested, I know what I should do, I should ask Jesus to help me. Yes, I will, but oh! Annie, how will He know its me, when there are such a lot of us in the ward? Ill tell you, said Annie, put your arms outside the counterpane. The next morning the little girls arms were outside the counterpane and her eyes were closed. She was dead.2 [Note: Tennyson, ii. 253.]
III
The Remedy for Anxiety
1. Casting all your care upon him. St. Peter says that the condition of being able to cast our care upon God is that we should humble ourselves under His mighty hand. We cannot cast our anxiety upon Him unless we submit ourselves to Him. One of the penalties of independence is that we cannot lean upon another. One of the advantages of all true sovereignty and government is that we can look for protection in the measure that we are the subjects of such rule. The independent man, to be consistent, ought to be satisfied with himself and his own resources, and never look to another for assistance or shelter. The moment he seeks aid or sympathy his independence is gone. The truth taught here, therefore, is a self-evident truth to every man who thinks for a momentthat if we would be relieved of some of our distracting cares, the only condition upon which God will relieve us of them is that we subject ourselves to Him.
My Father, it is good for me
To trust and not to trace;
And wait with deep humility
For Thy revealing grace.
Lord, when Thy way is in the sea,
And strange to mortal sense,
I love Thee in the mystery,
I trust Thy providence.
I cannot see the secret things
In this my dark abode;
I may not reach with earthly wings
The heights and depths of God.
So, faith and patience, wait awhile!
Not doubting, not in fear;
For soon in heaven my Fathers smile
Shall render all things clear.
Then Thou shalt end times short eclipse,
Its dim, uncertain night;
Bring in the grand apocalypse,
Reveal the perfect Light.1 [Note: George Rawson.]
2. Having humbled ourselves let us next have faith in God. For beneath such humility there lies a still deeper feeling, the feeling of entire trust. The hand that was found mighty to bruise will be found now mightier to bless. When we not only cease to resist it, but strive to be led by it, we learn to do without caring for ourselves; we can joyfully cast on Him the burden of anxiety which surely grows as life moves on, because we know that He cares for us and has both power and will to give us what we need. Without such confidence humility itself is not possible. Without humility, faith in the righteousness and loving-kindness of God becomes the presumption of those who suppose themselves to be His favourites. Thus all true humbling of ourselves before Him lifts us above the earth and makes us to sit with Christ in heavenly places.
How to trustthat is the question. It is to be such a trust as a child has in its father. What are the characteristics of perfect trust? (1) First, it is a trust that obeys. There is no good in a trust that does not. You may put aside altogether the idea that you are trusting properly, if there is any known thing which your father wants you to do and you dont do it. After all, obedience is the test of trust. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Those who trust their father obey his lightest word; it is far more than any feeling. It is not a question of working ourselves up into feeling; it is the personal obedience of the child that is the real test. (2) Secondly, it is a trust that works. What more is there to be done here that you have not done? I do not know your lives. If I were speaking to you one by one, and we went into it, I have no doubt I might be able to suggest something which you might do for God that you are not doing. Is this trust we are speaking of simply a trust which issues in no action, which issues in no work for Him? That is not the right kind of trust. When the whole world is crying out for help, ours must be a trust that works. (3) Thirdly, it is a trust that ventures. I think myself that we do not make anything like enough ventures of faith. We are making a venture of faith in the diocese nowa venture of faith in building a theological college for London. At this particular time it is a great venture of faith. And yet I feel it is a venture of faith we are justified in making, in order to have a more efficient ministry in the Church of England. I hope that venture of faith will be recognized by God, and that He will supply us with the funds that we need. But you may have ventures of faith in your individual life. A girl may know she ought not to be in the place where she is, and yet it seems a great venture of faith to leave it. She must make a venture of faith if she trusts. She may not know where she is going. I have seen several off lately to Australia and Africa. It is a great venture of faith for them to go. (4) Fourthly, it is a trust that rejoices, that has joy in God, whatever happens. I am certain that the child of God who really believes in this superintending care ought to have more joy; I do not think anything ought to be able to drag us down if we believe it. This childlike trust ought to fill us every day with a real joy that the world can neither give nor take away. (5) Lastly, it must be a trust that rests. When Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping. Surely, when you think of it, there is something very touching in the perfect trust of that servant of God: when the very next day he might have been led out to be executed, and probably would have been, he was simply sleeping like a child, secure in the personal presence of the Father.1 [Note: Bishop A. F. W. Ingram, Joy in God, 146.]
3. We must cast our care on God by the energy of prayer. Prayer is the practical expression of hope. While life is sunny and all things seem to be going smoothly, our prayers are apt to be wanting in reality. They are unreal by a failure in earnestness. If we really need and feel our need, then, and not till then, are we earnest in our prayers. Care at least does this for a sincere Christianit presses upon him a sense of need. And when we need, and when we exert the virtue, the duty, of hope within us, then, not till then, are we in earnest in our prayers. And we fail also by want of simplicity and minuteness. We must learn to tell God all. There is no care, no anxiety, no worry, no distress, no perplexity, too small, if it is lying heavy on our hearts, to be laid on the heart of our Father. Commit, says the Psalmist, thy way unto the Lord. Is any among you afflicted? let him pray, says St. James. How many a believer can testify that he went to the throne of grace heavy in spirit and came away light hearted; or, if not just that, if so to speak he did not leave his burden there, at least he brought away strength that made it comparatively light to bear. Prayer is the casting of our care on God in two ways: first, as it brings us into contact with Divine sympathy; secondly, as it takes hold of Divine strength.
With a true heart upheaving
My small load,
As Thou appointest, Lord, so let me bear
The duty-burden trusted to my care.
And though my face should all be wet
With toilsome sweat;
Show Thou the road
Enough! no grieving!
But now, my heart, be careful
Lest thou care!
The Lord doth give me daily bread for nought,
And for the morrow doth Himself take thought.
Then let me serve Him, on my part,
With all my heart,
And wait my share
With spirit prayerful.
Ah, Lord! now add Thy blessing
To all I do!
And let Thy grace and help my word attend,
From the beginning even to the end.
Let each days burden teach my eyes,
My heart, to rise
Thy rest pursue
Thy peace possessing!
4. Casting all your care upon him. This little word all includes even the trivial and passing anxieties of each day. To suppose that some cares are too insignificant to take to God in prayer is not to honour Him, but unnecessarily to burden ourselves. It has been said that white ants pick a carcase quicker and cleaner than a lion does, and so these little cares may even more effectually destroy our peace than a single great trouble, if, in our mistaken reverence for Gods greatness, we refuse to cast them upon Him.
One yelping dog may break our slumber on the stillest night. One grain of dust in the eye will render it incapable of enjoying the fairest prospect. One care may break our peace and hide the face of God, and bring a funeral pall over our souls. We must cast all our care on Him, if we would know the blessedness of unshadowed fellowship.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Tried by Fire, 198.]
To trust God with all one is, or hopes for forever, this is True Faith. To trust God with Body, Soul, Spirit; with His Promises, with His Covenant of Grace, with His Christ, with anything whereby I might secure myself from being subject to His pleasure; this is Faith in good earnest, this is Faith founded upon true knowledge: He knoweth God indeed, who dareth thus trust Him. Let others trust God for Salvation, but my spirit can never rest till it dares trust God with Salvation.1 [Note: Isaac Penington.]
5. And let us cast all our care upon Him, not gradually or half-heartedly but once for all. St. Peter uses a past tense for his verb and not a present, by which he suggests that this casting of our care upon God ought to be an act of the beginning. Just as there is no half-forgiveness on His side, so there should be no partial offering of trust on our side. An anxious heart is never a holy heart; and he who has not committed himself and his concerns to the grace and power of God, and done it once for all, has still to make the right start. At the outset, says St. Paul, I suffered loss of all things, and to-day, afresh, I count them but as rubbish that I may gain Christ. There is the irreversible act of the beginning, which is renewed with every day and each temptation. Having cast our care on Him, we cast it day by day afresh; and so the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keeps both heart and thought in Jesus Christ.
This does not deny what has been described in the life of a Christian as a continual exchange of care for peace, but it does strongly suggest that the strengthening sense of Gods interest in us may depend on our having reached a point when we, by an act of the faith and will co-operating, definitely take up our burden and throw it (so the original suggests) on Him and leave it there, and pass on, lightened and no longer bowed down under the weight of it. So much so may this be true that now, to turn to St. Pauls words, we add to our prayer and supplication thanksgiving, even before we see the fruit of our act, because we are as sure that He has taken from us as that we have cast on Him the burden of our care.
A young lady had consecrated herself to the work of missions, and was about to go to India. Just at that point, an accident disabled her mother, and the journey had to be deferred. For three years she ministered at that bedside, until the mother died, leaving as her last request that she should go and visit her sick sister in the far West. She went, intending to sail for India immediately on her return; but she found the sister dying of consumption, and without proper attendance: and once more she waited until the end came. Again her face was turned eastward, when the sisters husband died, and five little orphans had no soul on earth to care for them but herself. No more projects for going to the heathen, she wrote. This lonely household is my mission. Fifteen years she devoted to her young charge; and, in her forty-fifth year, God showed her why He had held her back from India, as she laid her hand in blessing on the heads of three of them ere they sailed as missionaries to the same land to which, twenty years before, she had proposed to go. Her broken plan had been replaced by a larger and a better one. One could not go, but three went in her stead: a good interest for twenty years.1 [Note: M. R. Vincent, God and Bread, 160.]
Human Anxiety and Divine Care
Literature
Arnold (T.), Sermons, ii. 173.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, vi. 382.
Edmunds (J.), Sermons, 74.
Ellis (J.), Golden Truths for Young Folk, 33.
Farningham (M.), In Evening Lights, 9.
Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons, ii. 167.
Humberstone (W. J.), The Cure of Care, 121.
Huntington (F. D.), Christ in the Christian Year: Trinity to Advent, 44.
Ingrain (A. F. W.), Joy in God, 141.
Ingrain (A. F. W.), The Call of the Father, 33.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year: Sundays after Trinity, ii. 474.
Little (W. J. K.), Sunlight and Shadow, 152.
Macgregor (W. M.), Some of Gods Ministries, 245.
McLeod (A.), The Child Jesus, 103.
March (F. E.), Hindrances to the Spiritual Life, 50.
Matheson (G.), Moments on the Mount, 259.
Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 198.
Mortimer (A. G.), Studies in Holy Scripture, 287.
Newbolt (W. C. E.), Counsels of Faith and Practice, 161.
Nicoll (W. R.), Ten-Minute Sermons, 27.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, i. 249.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, viii. (1862) 13.
Symonds (A. R.), Sermons, 390.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit) iii. (1863) No. 431; xiii. (1876) No. 1009.
Vincent (M. R.), God and Bread, 153.
Whitworth (W. A.), The Sanctuary of God, 131.
Wilson (S. L.), Helpful Words for Daily Life, 19,
Wynne (G. R.), In Quietness and Confidence, 46.
Christian World Pulpit, ii. 40 (White); xxx. 177 (Beecher); lvi. 175 (Hallock).
Church of England Magazine, xxviii. 272 (Thompson); lx. 224 (Heurtley).
Churchmans Pulpit: 3rd Sunday after Trinity, x. 128 (Symonds), 130 (How).
Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., iii. 362 (Barrett).
Five-Minute Sermons, by Paulists, New Ser., i. 296.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Casting: 1Sa 1:10-18, 1Sa 30:6, Psa 27:13, Psa 27:14, Psa 37:5, Psa 55:22, Psa 56:3, Psa 56:4, Mat 6:25, Mat 6:34, Luk 12:11, Luk 12:12, Luk 12:22, Phi 4:6, Heb 13:5, Heb 13:6
for: Psa 34:15, Psa 142:4, Psa 142:5, Mat 6:26, Mat 6:33, Mar 4:38, Luk 12:30-32, Joh 10:13
Reciprocal: Psa 10:14 – the poor Psa 39:6 – surely Psa 40:17 – the Lord Pro 16:3 – thy works Ecc 2:22 – and of the Isa 50:10 – let Amo 6:1 – to them Mat 6:31 – What shall we eat Luk 12:26 – why Joh 18:8 – let 1Co 7:21 – care
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE REMEDY FOR CARE
Casting all your care [anxiety] upon Him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:7
In just a few simple words, not as appealing to the intellect, but to the heart, let me seek to enforce the duty and the encouragement which these words of St. Peter set before us.
I. A preliminary inquiry of importance is this: on whom does the duty fall, and who are those that may claim the encouragement? None surely can or will cast their anxieties upon God who have not first cast their sins upon Him. We must feel Him bearing that burden from our consciences before we shall come with confidence to commit our anxieties to Him. It is to the tried friend alone that we entrust the secrets of our soul. It is to the warm, loving, parental heart and to the strong parental arm that the child turns with confidence when any cloud, be it never so trivial or transient, passes over the brightness of its young life. So with ourselves. I can never cast my anxiety upon God till I see Him, in Christ, blotting out my transgressions and casting all my sins behind His back. I cannot approach Him as a child till I know Him as a Father. He may be quite willing to bear my troubles, and to guide and comfort me under them; but I do not know it or feel it till I know and feel Him to be a reconciled and loving Father in Christ Jesus. Not till then shall I even care to cast my care upon Him.
II. Observe how personal it is.Your anxiety; yours, each one of you. And what does St. Peter mean by anxiety? He does not mean anxiety as to the soul, but anxiety in matters relating to this life that now is: things which in their endless variety are connected with the Christians present experience in the various relations and duties to which he is called; matters, moreover, which, when allowed to press upon him as cares, interrupt his communion with God, and hinder his growth in Divine things. And who does not know what such care is? Who has not some anxiety to cast away? For, remember, God has never told His children that they shall be without anxieties. They are inseparable from our condition in this world. It is in human nature to feel them, and God wishes us to feel them; they are essential in Gods spiritual government. But when rightly received, and rightly used, and rightly passed through, they will be found to be blessings, even though they appear in disguise. Now these, whatever they are, whatever their nature, their number, their magnitude, with all their causes and anticipated consequences, with all their disquietudes, and fears, and connected circumstances, you are permittednay invitedto cast upon God. And mark, all of them, casting all your anxiety. Your heavenly Father would have you keep no part back from Him; there are no cares so little that you may not take them to Him; and none so little that He will not be willing to take them from you. Nothing is too trifling or too insignificant for His regard. Everything which vexes or perplexes may be laid before the Fathers mercy-seat. This is your privilege. You may take your anxieties to God, and cast themall of themupon Him. He encourages you, nay, He expects you, to do so. And remember you are to leave them there with Him. Some of us are willing enough to take them, but we bring them away again. We no sooner throw the load off but we pick it up again, and carry it with all its discomfort, as if we had not a heavenly Father to take it from us. Oh! for more faith, more simple obedience, more trustful reliance, in His power, His promises, and His love.
III. But turn to the encouragement.He careth for you. What stronger assurance do you require than this, He careth for you? How many a heart is broken in this unkind world by feeling that one does not care for us who ought to do so? It is not only that a misplaced confidence leads to disappointment; unreturned love wastes the strength and breaks the heart. But the conviction that one cares for us, a father for a child, or a friend for a friend, guarantees goodwill and any interposition which our case may demand. If you care for a person you will go through fire and water to serve him, and the conviction that you care for him will inspire comfort and reliance in his heart. Are there few such friendships in this selfish world? We place little confidence in one another, because we have each of us an end to serve for ourselves, and because so few of us really care for one another. But God brings Himself very near to His people. See Him stooping down, with His great loving heart, from His throne in the heavens. Hear the voice which once said, Let there be light, now gently saying to the poor vexed disciple before Him, Thou shalt call Me Abba, Father. This is the secret of it all: it is not Gods Providence; it is Gods paternal love; it is the care which is implied in that relationship. I will be a Father unto them, and they shall be My people. There may be some who do not care for Him, but He careth for you. In spite of all your indifference and sins, He careth for you. He has opened His heart to you. He has made known the way of life to you. He has given His only-begotten Son to die for you. He protects you, and feeds you, and bears with you though you care not for Him.
IV. God has a special care for His true people, for those who have felt their need of a Saviour, and have cast themselves upon Christ, as one suitable, sufficient, and perfect. Can a woman, He says, forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb? No earthly love can exceed a mothers. How she watches her babe, and lays it to sleep in her bosom, and fondles it, and laughs with it, and weeps with it; nay, sacrifices her own life for it. But, says God, they may forgetthere are mothers who do forgetyet will I not forget thee; and what can you need more? May I not appeal to some of you and ask whether you have not experienced thiswhether, looking back to-day upon your past life, you can have any doubt in this particular, or in that, that Gods hand ordered it for you, when there was no power or wisdom in you to order it for yourself? Has He not shown you in repeated instances that He was thinking of you, when perhaps you were too little thinking of Him? Yes; the Lord careth for His people, and His care for them is, like Himself, unchangeable, never failing. How wretched is the condition of those who do not know what it is to be able to cast their anxieties upon God! No wonder you see such persons fretful and anxious and distracted, full of complaints of life, dissatisfied often in the midst of plenty, regarding trifles as grievous calamities, unhappy, fearful, and desponding. No wonder you see some stooping wearily under their anxieties, and well-nigh crushed by their weight. Is this your case; is it so that you know nothing of the power and solace of true religion? Begin, I say, to-day, and make real heart-work of it; you will never be happy till you rise above these cares. Whatever care oppresses you now, cast it upon your God. Is it difficult to do it? So the word implies. Just then as he stoops low, and looks far, and aims high, who throws a stone at a mark, so must you do; it must be done by earnest, humble, persevering faith. And, depend upon it, for your comfort, there are no heartbreakings and disappointments here. God never said to any, Seek ye My face in vain. He will exceed His word of promise rather than come short of it. Be careful for nothing, He says, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and then the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard your heart and mind, through Christ Jesus. Let us take Him at His word.
Rev. Prebendary Eardley-Wilmot.
Illustration
A strange thing is taking place in this church to-day. Here is an assembly of persons, of whom there is not one who has not some kind of anxiety upon his mind; and here is the minister to stand up and say, There is One Who is as willing as He is able, and Who is as able as He is willing, to take all those cares upon Him. And one would have thought, that the first instant that such a thing as that was proclaimed, there would be a thousand hearts start up, each one anxious to come and cast his burden and his grief upon Him. Will it be so? Here is the minister, with all his care towards you, and his fearful and unhappy hearers, urging them and beseeching them, perhaps for the hundredth time, only that they would let God ease them of all their troubles; and if, out of this crowdthis crowd of angry, unquiet soulsone, only one, should receive the grace of God and be happy, the minister would think it a most honoured sermona day greatly to be remembered. You ask, Why is this? You do not believe it. If you did believe itthat you might come and cast every care you have upon God Who careth for you, you would come. You do not believe it.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
GODS INDIVIDUAL CARE
If there should be at this moment in this congregation one who should say to himself, No; not for me. I am alone. God cannot mean it for me, I would, with emphasis, say to that one, The Lord careth for you.
I. None of us have a right idea of the individual feeling God has to us.We are apt, in this matter, to measure God by ourselves; and because to us it would be an impossible effort to hold deep sympathy with a great many persons at the same moment, because at the best we only feel a general interest for the benefit of the many with whom we have to do, therefore we are in the habit of supposing that God lays down a certain general rule of kindness towards us, that He does not interpose in any particular manner for each one of His childrens welfare. But that which is a pleasure to infinite benevolence can never be a difficulty to infinite omnipotence. Is it a principle in my mind that I can only take an interest in anything just in proportion as it is dear to me? And may I not argue from that feeling in my own breast up to the infinite Creator of all things, and see in the fact that He created every atom, that He has an individual interest in every atom? And if an earthly father can have a tender affection for each one of his childrenso that his love is not less for each individual because it extends to them allhow shall I doubt that the great Parent of all has an individual affection for each one of His great family?
II. And Scripture confirms the thought.It tells us of One Who counts the hairs and telleth all our wanderings. It speaks of Him as a Brother touched with every feeling of our infirmities, and that in all our affliction He was afflicted; and that the Angel of His presence saveth us. He writes sighs in a book; He puts tears in a bottle. He calls every man by his own name. He keeps us as the apple of the eye. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
III. Or, if all other arguments fail, have not we experienced it?Have not there been certain prayers which you have offered and which have come back in most singular precision? Have not there been strange interpositions of the Divine Providence in years past on your behalf? Can those years tell no tales of individual love? Has not He sometimes spoken to you so distinctly that it is like a voice, and you have known it? Has not the Word preached sometimes come home to you with an irresistible poweras if it were God, at that moment, dealing with you Himself? When you have gone wrong have you not had some singular checks and things to bring you back from those wanderings? And every moment of your life have not you been fed and guided? Have you not been guarded, delivered, and blessed every hour? Oh, why should any of us doubt that God has a personal affection and care for these bodies and these souls?
IV. If, at this moment, that little thin veil which separates the two worlds could be drawn aside, we should see such a look on Gods face that we should never doubt it again. And I believe this, that though there be those on earth that love you, and of whose sympathy you feel quite sure, yet that far more tenderly does Jesus love you; and all that love of father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, is nothing compared to the tenderness and devotedness of your heavenly Fathers love. So it is no unreal thing when we read, The Lord careth for you.
Illustration
I fear too little prayerful consideration is felt by the Church in behalf of her Christian men of business. Sustaining responsibilities, burdened with cares, depressed by anxieties well-nigh crushingearnestly desirous, and that very desire intensifying their feelings that integrity and uprightness should preserve them, that by no faltering, no receding, no departure from the strictest line of Christian consistency should the cause of Christ be dishonoured and their Christian character be compromisedare they sufficiently borne upon our sympathies and prayers? Do we, in measure, make their burdens, their dangers, their anxieties our own? Do we ask for them of God the grace that will keep them in prosperity, and for the strength and comfort that will sustain and soothe them under the pressure and perils of anxious care? Does the Church of God sufficiently sympathise with her Christian merchants?
(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE BURDEN AND THE BURDEN-BEARER
We are dealing not with what may be called the normal care, which in some form or other must be the lot of every man and woman, without which, indeed, life would be a useless, lotus-eating, existencecare, which is the necessary accompaniment of all work honestly done, whether with the hands or the head, even to our first parents before the Fall; but anxiety, restless, carking care, which saps the mind rather than disciplines it, which comes in some guise to most of us, which we are bidden not to hug, not to crouch under, as trembling captives in the hand of a stronger, but to cast it from us.
I. St. Peters direction amounts to a command to throw off from us our anxieties, the cares that distract the mind, and cast them upon God. But some will say, Are we not to bring our normal cares and duties to God, and commit them to Him for His help and His blessing? Surely we are, and at all times, if we are to discharge these duties, be they what they may, in a right spirit, and with hope of true success; but we are here dealing with a precept of a different kind. Our normal cares and duties we must bear, and not seek to evade or cast aside. Duties, however toilsome and wearying, are things to be done, or, at any rate, to be honestly essayed, not things to be mourned over and evaded if possible. But the anxiety, the worry if you will so call it, from whatsoever cause arising, is a thing which St. Peter bids us to cast on God; and the Saviour Himself tells us that we are not to distract ourselves with anxious cares as to the morrowthat morrow will have its own crop of cares when it comes. The tense of the word casting, combined with the manner in which all is expressed, shows that the precept does not mean simply, As each fresh cause for anxiety arises, cast it from you on God; get rid of each as it arises. It is more than that: sum up in one effort all the efforts of your life, and cast in that one effort all lifes anxiety on Him. With lifes efforts thus gathered up into one, with lifes whole anxiety as it were anticipated, no cause can arise which should distract the Christians heart. True it is that this is an ideal to which few can rise, but what Christian grace is there to which believers here on earth can do more than struggle towards, and the further they advance in the course the more does the ideal move on before them, nobler, and fairer, and purer, as they struggle on towards it. The greatest of the Apostles hesitated not to speak of himself as chief of sinners; and tells us that he had not attained, but followed after, pressing on to the mark.
II. The Burden-Bearer.But there is one point specially to notice in this injunction of the Apostle. We are not merely to cast away from us our cares and anxieties; we are to cast them upon God. It is not a mere stoical fatalism which we are bidden to cultivate, a physical and mental hardness, trained into such a self-reliance that it submits, grimly and silently, when resistance is impossible. If this were all, no nobler type could be found than the North American Indians of a past generation, whose endurance of sufferings without a groan, when they fell into the hands of their foes, seems to go beyond the bounds of human belief. This is stoicism indeed, but what is enjoined upon the Christian is very different from this. The burden of anxiety is not to be got rid of, as when we fling something from us vaguely, not knowing where it will fall, regardless perhaps whether others will be somehow affected by this action of ours. Sometimes a mans flinging off of his anxieties amounts to their being laid on the backs of others, less strong perhaps to endure than himself. Casting all your care upon God: it is the last two words which differentiate the precept from the stoical endurance of the heathen, from the selfish indifference of the merely nominal Christian. Cast it upon God: His Infinite Love will receive all the manifold cares and anxieties of our finite humanity; and as we seek to obey the command, He will furnish the remedy that best suits the individual care. The man who brings the anxiety to God, struggling, however feebly, to the steps of the Throne, the steps which reach from earth to heaven, is not actuated by the thought not looking beyond the centre of selfI must get rid of my burden, fall it where it may. He takes it, as he is bidden, to his Father. His obedience therein to that Fathers command is itself a training for a fuller knowledge of that Father, is a help which shall fit him more for that Fathers home.
III. One thought more.There is, indeed, something inexpressibly soothing in the thought of bringing our anxieties to our Heavenly Father, and leaving them with Him; but, one will ask, May I? Surely, yes. St. Peter does not leave his message half told. God, Who bade the Apostle to pen the injunction, bade him also to add the assurance, the promise, for He careth for you. This word care moves on totally different lines from the other; it has to do with attention and regard, which may in its higher form amount to affectionate interest. Great truth of truths, God careth for us. It is not merely a hope, a dream, a beautiful ideal fancy. It is a solid fact, unmovable like the solid rock; it is His own definite declaration and promise. In full reliance on Him Whose bounty in His promises and His gifts exceeds our readiness to avail ourselves of them, let us cast the burden of our anxiety before Him, and leave it with Him, that thus having laid aside every weight we may serve Him with lightened hearts and minds till this worlds twilight breaks in fullest day.
Rev. Dr. Sinker.
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Hard it is often to tear the anxiety from our hearts, where else it takes root and spreads like a cancer, and cast it upon God as He Himself has bidden us. Yet in this, as in other Christian duties, some noble examples stand before us. Think of that Valiant-for-Truth, Bishop Nicholas Ridley, who could sleep with the calm slumber of a child on his last night on earth, though he knew that on the morrow the awful death at the stake awaited him. Think of holy Rowland Taylor, one of the first victims of the Marian Reign of Terror, who on his way to his fiery martyrdom could cheerfully tell the sheriff, I have only two stiles to go over, and I am even at my Fathers house. Or take one more instance where Gods Providence ended the matter differently. Take the saintly Bernard Gilpin, the Apostle of the North, whose comment in every trouble was, It is all for the best, and who, when being led up to London for trial before Bonner in the last year of Marys reign, happened to fall and break his leg; and to the taunt, Is this, too, all for the best, Master Gilpin? could answer, I doubt it not, since it is Gods will. Happily before his leg was healed the persecutor died, and Gilpins life was saved for future usefulness. Very few of us can rise to such heights as this, but we can set it as an ideal before us to aim at. It is a thing, indeed, to be aimed at and struggled for, and, above all, prayed for.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Pe 5:7. Casting all your care upon him means upon God, for the preceding verse says He is the one who will exalt the humble. Not that we are to be thoughtless about the stern realities of life, for the next verse will contradict that. It means that we should believe that our interests are His interests and that we should not always be fretting about the future. Jesus taught that we should not be overanxious about the morrow (Mat 6:25-34), and our present verse declares that he careth for you. Then let us go on our pilgrim journey with abiding faith in Him who holds the universe in the hollow of his hand.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 5:7. Casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. While the A. V. adopts the one term care in both clauses, the original has two distinct terms, the former meaning anxious care, the latter interest or concern. The A. V. follows Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan. Wycliffe gives cast ye all your business in to Him: for to Him is cure of you. The Rhemish has casting all your carefulness upon Him, because He hath care of you. Peter seems to have Psa 55:22 in mind, although he gives the second clause a different form from what it has in the Psalm. Compare also Psa 37:5. The fact that God retains a loving concern for us is our reason for rolling the burden of our anxieties upon Him. This we do by prayer, and He shows His care for us by helping us to throw off the weight, or by sustaining us under it Humility of mind is a chief protection against anxiety. Where there is the disposition to humble ourselves beneath Gods hand, there the disposition to trust Him will also appear. The anxiety is described here as a burden (= your whole anxiety) which is to be cast as one whole upon Godnot every anxiety as it arises; for none will arise, if this transference has been effectually made (Alford). In the present instance the burden is not the affliction itself, but those doubtful, carking thoughts about affliction which double its pain. Compare Shakespeares
Care is no cure, but rather a corrosive.
For things that are not to be remedied.
Henry VI. iii. 3,
and the remarkable words of the Stoic slave, Epictetus (Dissert, 1Pe 2:10), From thyself, from thy thoughts, cast away grief, fear, desire, envy, malevolence, avarice, effeminacy, intemperance. But it is not possible to cast away these things in any other way than by fixing our eyes upon God only, by turning our affections on Him only, by being consecrated to His orders (Ramages rendering).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The nature of the duty enjoined, to cast our care upon God; it is not a providential and prudential care, but an anxious and vexatious care, that the scripture forbids; and the duty here required is this, that after we have used all prudent care and diligence in subserviency to the providence of God, we should not be over-solicitous about the issue and event of things; which, when we have done all we can, will be out of our power.
Casting our care upon God implies, that we should refer the issue and event of things to his wise providence, which is continually watching over us, and knows how to dispose of all things for the best advantage to us; entirely confiding in his wisdom and goodness, that he will order all things for the best, and in that confidence resting satisfied with the disposals of his providence, whatever they be. This is to cast all our care upon God.
Observe here, 2. The argument here made use of to persuade us to this duty: God careth for us.
This implies also two things:
1. In general, that the providence of God governs the world, and concerns itself in the affairs of men, and disposeth of all events that happen to us.
2. More particularly, that this providence is more peculiarly concerned for good men, and that he takes a special care of them, and of their concerns; and the care that God takes of them is a special care, a tender care, a promised and engaged care, a care mysteriously exercised; he then takes most care of them when they think he takes none at all.
Cast we then all our care upon him who careth for us; for anxious care is a painful evil, an unprofitable evil, a sinful evil.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
This verse does not introduce a new command but explains how to humble oneself: by entrusting oneself and one’s troubles to God (Psa 55:22; cf. Mat 6:25-34; Php 4:6). We can do this because we have confidence that God cares for our welfare.
"Mermina [sic, merimna] = worry or anxiety as when one does not know whether to do this or to do that, ’distraction.’" [Note: Lenski, p. 224. Cf. Psalms 55:22; 37:5; Luke 10:41; 12:11-12.]