Cast it on Him

Lay Down the Load You Weren't Built to Carry

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

“I give it to God and then take it right back,” Gram would say.
I knew exactly what she meant; for I do it, too.

When troubles arise, our minds race; our pulse quickens; our hands wring.

We fret and pace as if by worrying we can harness the power to change worrisome circumstances into desirable ones. As if feeling anxious can ‘add years to our lives.’ Deep down, we know worrying solves nothing, so why do we continue to do it?

I think, for me, it’s a matter of action. I can’t stand sitting on my hands. By researching, and planning, and rehearsing, I feel more in control of my life. I’ve convinced myself that doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing.
And waiting feels an awful lot like doing nothing.

I think I drive my dear husband a bit crazy at times. I will ask his advice about a troubling situation, and before I even let him speak his piece, I begin rambling about all I’ve already considered and thought through. Once I pause for breath, he will patiently ask if I really want his input.
I think the embarrassing truth is I want to figure it out on my own.
I want to be my own hero.

While there’s nothing wrong about getting feedback from those we trust, Scripture wants us to learn something far more transformative.

Peter urges us to “Cast all [our] anxiety on Him.” In a sermon on First Peter 5:7, Alistair Begg explains the etymology of the Greek word Peter uses (‘merimna’)—

“The essence of it is described for us here by the word which Peter uses. The word [used] here for ‘anxiety’ has as its root “to divide” or “to distract”—that distraction of mind which creates insecurity, which creates instability, which creates uncertainty, and then further serves to fuel our fears and engenders in us this experience known to all human beings: that of…almost paralyzing anxiety.”

Peter doesn’t tell us to deny our anxiety, or ignore it, or to numb it through escape; he wants us to deal with it. We think somehow by ignoring it or distracting ourselves from it that we are dealing with it, but as David shows us in Psalm 55, there’s no escaping that which consumes our hearts and minds. He is tempted to flee, but he chooses not to. He knows that if he runs, the fears hidden within go where he goes. Instead, he tells himself (and us) to “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.” (v. 22)

Notice that in both First Peter and Psalm 55, anxiety is something we will experience, but by ‘casting it on God’ we are not allowing it to ‘unpack its bags and take up residence’ in our hearts. In order to find freedom from fear, we must ‘cast’ it on the Lord.

Pastor Begg continues by turning our attention to the word ‘cast:’

“This word is a decisive, energetic, action word. It is the word used to describe the garbage men when they come around… If you ever happen [to watch them] you will notice that they do not take painstaking effort in moving your trash… They don’t measure it up and look at the space, and then gradually start to pick it up as they would a fine piece of furniture. No, they simply grab it, and they hurl it… They are using the 1 Peter 5:7 word, “to hurl” or “to chuck” or “to throw, to get rid of…” Instead of going through our days pressed down by the burden of anxiety, we are to throw it, hurl it, upon the Lord.”

I’ve been unlearning the bad habit of trying to understand each verse in a chapter separately. I now see how I missed something very important in Peter’s exhortation because I failed to make sense of it in light of the preceding verse, verse six.

Begg explains that the NIV translation separates verses 6 and 7 with a period and begins verse 7 with the imperative “cast.” This causes the reader to think of the two ideas presented as separate ideas. A better translation, he argues, uses the participle “casting” because verse 7 must be read and understood together with verse 6.

The ESV translation reads:

“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.” (1 Pet 5: 6-7)

When we see the truth that “humility and its presence is directly related to anxiety and its absence,” Alistair teaches, our posture extends ability to obey the command to cast our anxiety on Him.

You see, when we “give it to God and then take it right back” we are, in essence, telling Him we believe we’ll do a better job with it. We are saying His timetable for dealing with our troubles isn’t adequate. We are saying we don’t believe he actually cares about it (or us) as much as the Bible tells us He does.

At the root of these beliefs is the terrible sin of pride.

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The Most Detestable of Sins

It’s taken the gracious eye-opening truth of God to help me see my pride. I know now that lingering pride is what keeps me from finding contentment in God. Quoting Martin Luther, Tim Keller says “human nature is in curvatus in se, curved in on itself. We are so instinctively and profoundly self-centered that we don’t believe we are.”¹

“In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” Psalm 10:4

Brutal in his unfiltered truth, 19th century preacher, F.B. Meyer, wrote this on pride:

“Pride is one of the most detestable of sins; yet does it find lodgment in earnest souls, though we often speak of it by some lighter name. We call it – independence, self-reliance. We do not always discern it in the hurt feeling, which retires into itself, and nurses its sorrows in a sulk… We are proud of our humility, vain of our meekness; and, putting on the saintliest look, we wonder whether all around are not admiring us for our lowliness.”

Humility was not a virtue in the time the apostles wrote their letters, nor is it considered a virtue in secular society today. In ancient times honor and status dominated social thinking (as it does today). But it is a powerful weapon against pride, and it is a virtue God blesses with grace. (see Prov 3:34) If we are to be able to ‘cast our anxiety on Him,’ (and leave it there) we must first ‘clothe ourselves with humility.’

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Tie on the Garment of Humility

The idea of ‘clothing ourselves’ with a virtue is an interesting one. Peter does not urge his readers to feel humble nor even to pray about being humble. Instead, he exhorts us to adopt an attitude of lowliness—an attitude which is revealed in our actions. The repeated emphasis in Scripture to ‘clothe ourselves’ stresses something intentional and visible. The ‘garments’ we wear then become our uniforms signifying identity and readiness.

In Peter’s day, it was the servant who donned an apron.

Essentially, Peter tells us to ‘tie on the apron’ and ‘act the part of the servant.’ We are to adopt—to take on—something which is not, by nature, ours. I can’t help but picture our Lord stooping to wash His disciples’ dusty feet wearing the towel of a servant. Clothed in humility.

If anyone needs a lesson in humility, I commend to him or her a cross-country road trip. For it is in standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and peering out into its utter vastness that I am able to get a sense of just how ‘small’ I really am.

Or traveling by car hour after hour through the deserts of Utah realizing hundreds of miles lay between rest stops and hoping my bladder holds out.

And viewing rock formations which look ‘other-worldly’ against the expanse of blue above and becoming aware how long ago they must have first appeared—long before I arrived on the planet and will remain long after I depart. It was then I perceived a bit of my transient, mist-like life.

The Lord Almighty asks:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place…

“Can you direct the movement of the stars—
binding the cluster of the Pleiades
or loosening the cords of Orion?

Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?

—Job 38: 4-5; 12; 31; 37-38

Like Job, I put my hand over my mouth and will speak no more.

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He Cares for You

The God who created the heavens and the earth also created man and in His compassion He ‘remembers we are dust.’ The question is, do we remember this?

Scripture tells us that God cares for us. It’s a fact. The issue is—do we believe it?

Our troubles are very real and painful; and Alistair encourages us to view them “in light of the fact that we have a God and Father who is incredibly interested in the details of our lives. He knows all that we have to face.”

But too often we want to be our own savior and attempt to carry it all. And as a result, we become so weighed down by our burdens we wonder how we will ever survive under the weight of it. My friend, we were not built to carry it all. We must remember who we are in light of who God is. It is ‘under God’s mighty hand’ that humility lives.

“The scriptures are always bringing us to the end of ourselves
in order that we might find again and again
our sufficiency in Christ.”
—Alistair Begg

I don’t want to worry, but I worry all the time.

I worry about losing my parents and things left unsaid.
I worry about my autistic child and whether or not he’ll be able to take care of himself one day.
I worry about my middle boy and the dark cloud of depression hanging over him.
I worry about my first born and whether or not he will walk with the Lord.
I worry about losing my husband in some terrible accident on the road.

I asked a friend once if it was a lack of faith that made me pray for my children’s safety at school every single time I dropped them off. She said No. Quite the opposite. She said it is a sign of humble dependence on the only One who is able to keep them safe.

So, that is what we do. Releasing our grip, we let go. With open hands we say, “It’s yours Lord. I can’t carry it anymore.” And then we walk, each day—every sixty seconds of every minute—in the discipline of refusing to take back what we’ve given over to Him.

Because we believe with certainty that He is strong enough to carry it all and that
He cares enough to do it—just like He did all those years ago when He carried the cross to Calvary.

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1. Tim Keller. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. Penguin Books, 2016. p.123