Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7
We all know we’re not supposed to worry or be anxious about anything, but have you ever experienced a dull sense of heaviness that isn’t readily identified? You don’t know what it is or where it possibly could have come from, so how can it be dispelled?
That happened to me recently. I went through the checklist to see if I’d overlooked anything:
• Was there anyone I hadn’t forgiven?
• Was there someone with whom I’d been unloving?
• Was there unconfessed sin?
• Was I worried about anything?
• Was I coming down with an ailment?
Over and over I tried to discover the cause of my dis-ease without any success. Finally, I went to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves and asked that he show me why I was walking around with a cloud overhead. That evening, I picked up Hannah Smith’s Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life that I’ve read for the umpteenth time. Hannah talked about how we heap various concerns on ourselves when we should be giving them to the Lord—not always just worries but concerns, too.
I reflected about my distress at the lack of courtesy that I seem to see in all aspects of the political spectrum—I’d picked that one up. Then I thought about my concern over how a community was lavishly spending money—none of my business, but I also put that on my back. I’d fretted over the way an event had been organized—again, out of my purview. As the Holy Spirit reminded me of the ways I’d allowed the affairs of others to weigh me down, I almost laughed. As if I didn’t have enough in my own life to think about.
The remedy was simple: casting all my care on him. These weren’t worries, but they still weighed me down. One at a time I gave them to the Burden Bearer and refused to take them back. I saw how foolish it was for me even to spend energy thinking about politicians or community spending or myriads of other things that hadn’t been assigned to me. And yet, I think I am not alone in picking up things that are not my responsibility. Where God gives us a task, he also provides the wisdom and the grace to carry it through with ease.
If you’ve picked up luggage that doesn’t have your name on it, drop it right away and let God carry it. We simply don’t have the strength to do more than he’s given us. When we do have a burden, we roll it over on Jesus and find it’s the easiest thing in the world to allow him to carry it for us.
Father, thank you for mercifully carrying our cares and for forgiving us when we forget. You are a good Father. AMEN.
agodforeveryday 