want to shortly look at a specific verse from the bible, which, if we have it memorised and keep in our hearts, can prove to be a great comfort to us in times of distress and help us focus more on Jesus by giving them up to him. I am talking about the verse in 1 Peter 5:7, “7 ¶ Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.”1
Even just hearing that would make many pause and comfort them because it talks about casting all our anxieties, which many tend to keep bottled up within themselves, to God. This verse also parallels another verse from the Old Testament, where it says in Ps 55:22:
22 ¶ Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved. 2
And it is likely that this is one of the texts that would come up in the mind of any jewish Christian in the first century, and any later Christian who was well versed in the Psalms. The common thread in both passages is about casting our care/anxiety/burden onto God, and not be dependent on our own power, which is much weaker than the power of the omnipotent God.
Another vital passage about anxiety is in the sermon on the mount of Jesus, where he says, in Matthew 6:25-34:
25 ¶“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 ¶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 ¶ And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 ¶ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 ¶ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 ¶ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. 3
In the 1 Peter passage, after the text about the exhortation to cast our anxiety on Jesus, it mentions the reason why we can cast our anxieties on him. As we read, the reason is because he cares about us. If we are to reflect more on this, we can ask: How do we know God care about us? Well, it is clearly laid out throughout the previous passage, where Jesus is showing by the examples of the birds that the heavenly Father is taking care of them without them doing anything, and how much more God’s care would be applicable to us who are made in His image.
With these passages in mind, we should pray for God’s help in casting out our anxieties so we can focus on God rather on ourselves.
- The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 1 Pe 5:7. ↩︎
- The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Ps 55:22. ↩︎
- The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Mt 6:25–34. ↩︎
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