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Based on I Peter 5:7 Almost every chapter of the New Testament was written to and for people who were having hard times. God knows that life is filled with trouble and anxiety, and so He gave us His word to be the ark to carry us through this world where the flood of sorrow never ceases. Where else can we find help and hope? So many modern scholars have become pessimistic because of their rejection of God. Ernst Jungers in his essay Man In The Moon wrote, “I as a man on the moon, can no where find sense, being truly an icy lunar with its craters. Since I have given up seeking the point of my life, I am completely tormented.”
The best that man can give us will be of no benefit when the flood strikes. The comforts of man’s theories of life are shallow. The coin of their comforts ring like wooden nickels in the hour of crisis. Man wants an answer for his anxiety. He wants to be delivered from his dread and cured of his care. Joshua Leibman in his best seller Peace Of Mind wrote, “That men want peace is no private opinion of mine. Heap worldly gifts at the feet of foolish men, give me the gift of the untroubled mind.” Man wants peace, but where can he go? All the world has to offer is sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. There is only once source he can go to, and that is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. We want to focus our attention on verse 7 for His message of challenge and comfort.
I. THE REALITY OF ANXIETY IS RECOGNIZED.
The Bible does not escape problems by pretending they are not real. It recognizes that anxiety is very real and that even the Christian is in danger of falling into its grasp. We would not have to be told to cast our care upon Him if we had no care to cast. The Bible assumes that Christians, like all people, suffer with worry and anxiety in times of trouble. Anxiety comes from the root meaning to divide.” The anxious Christian is a divided personality and cannot give full devotion to Christ. Anxiety is to the personality what fever is to the body. It registers the presents of something foreign causing a reaction. Often we can no more help being anxious than we can help getting an infection. Someone has said, “Anxiety will not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but it empties today of its strength. It does not enable you to escape the evil, but makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes.”
Jesus told us that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. You will have all you can deal with each day without adding to the load worries about the future. Man has the power to imagine the worst, and so he is capable of anticipating the future, and it is the future that is the cause for so much anxiety. There is an old story of a man walking along with a heavy burden, and the angel of knowledge comes and says, “What are you caring?” The man said, “My worries.” “Let us examine them,” said the angel. So the man let down the load, and when they looked in the bag it was empty. “I don’t understand,” said the man. “I had two great worries that were so heavy I could hardly lift them.” “Yes,” said the angel, “but one was of yesterday, and it is gone. The other was of tomorrow, and it is not yet here.”
We need to learn to bear only the worries of today, and then we need not bear such a heavy load. God will not give us burdens to great to bear, but if you take burdens beyond today, they are not God given. Every person has a breaking point, and if you choose to worry about enough things anyone can destroy their peace of mind. If only we could learn to live for today as the hymn says. I’ll live for today nor anxious be, Jesus my Lord I soon shall see. Sometimes when the sky of our life is dark and dreary we feel like the poet when he said: Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tearsToil without recompense, tears all in vainTake them and give me my childhood again! But there is no escape from life’s trials like that.
The past is gone and we must face the present and the future with a greater power than that which seeks to crush us. The Bible recognizes the reality of anxiety and worry, but it also recognizes that faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient to gain the victory over all that the world can throw at us. Professor Royce of Harvard said, “Faith is the discovery of a Reality that enables one to face anything that can happen to one in the universe. Therefore, let us not bear the burdens of the future until they come, knowing that when they do His grace will be sufficient. Lady Teignmouth has put the words of Jesus in poetry from where He urges usOh, ask not thou, “How shall I bear The burden of tomorrow?” Sufficient for the day its care, It’s evil, and its sorrow. Thy God imparteth, by the way Strength that’s sufficient for the day. A housewife can stand to do the dishes a day at a time, but if she were to see all the dishes she will have to wash for the rest of her life, she would want to give up. So it can be in the Christian life if one gets so concerned about what the future holds. The flower of faith can be choked out.
Jesus in the Parable of the Sower told of some seed that actually began to grow but was then choked out because of the cares of the world. One of the greatest concerns that the future holds for all of us is the concern about dying. Herman Feifel, a clinical and research psychologist wrote, “Life is not comprehended truly or lived fully unless the idea of death is grappled with honestly.” Christians react different depending on their emotional makeup. George Foch wrote to his wife: “If you should hear that our cruiser was sunk and none were saved, then do not weep. The sea in which my body sinks is nothing but the hollow of my Savior’s hand and nothing can snatch me from it. Pages could be filled with the testimonies of Christians who faced death in calmness and peace. On the other hand, studies have shown that many Christians face death with great anxiety.
Dr. Paul Tournier in A Doctor’s Case Book in The Light Of The Bible told of a near relative who opened her heart to him on her death bed. She said, “When I realized that death was not far off, I felt shattered and rebellious. I cried out inside of myself. No, I won’t die, it isn’t fair at my age. At the same time I was reproaching myself for these interior explosions. A Christian woman such as I ought to be accepting death quite differently. But it was too strong for me. I was kicking against death with everything I had. Dr. Tournier points out that the Bible does not condemn this attitude, but understands it. The Bible calls death the king of terrors and the last enemy to be destroyed. Jesus faced it with great strain, and so we see that the Bible recognizes the reality of the anxieties we face, but it doesn’t just leave us there, for we see also in this 7th verse
II. THE REMEDY FOR ANXIETY IS REVEALED.
How did Jesus face the dreadful future of mockery and crucifixion? He faced it with anxiety. But what did He do with it? He cast it upon His heavenly Father, and then went forth to bear it in perfect peace. The peace of Christ is not an escape from trouble and anxiety, but is a peace in the midst of it. Jesus humbled himself and God exalted Him. Anxiety comes from an unwillingness to submit to the providence of God. We will not say, “Thy will not mine be done.” We cannot begin to find a cure for care and an answer for anxiety if we do not let go of our own plans and pride and submit to the will of God. We must recognize the power of God, for we would not worry so much about what man is going to do if we recognized the power of God. He is still doing wonders in the realm of creation.
In 1918 an astronomer on Mt. Wilson watched the heavens declare the glory of God. At midnight a new star appeared glowing with increasing intensity, and in 36 hours it increased in brilliance 30 thousand times. Creation is constantly revealing God is at work. The poet used the words of Jesus to remind us of this. When we see the lilies spinning in distress, Taking thought to manufacture loveliness; When we see the birds all building barns for store, ‘Twill be time for us to worry-not before. God is not only the mighty one who creates, He is the merciful one who cares. A leading psychiatrist said that most who comes to him “Lacked a sense of personal significance.” They feel that they do not count in life. This never needs to be the feeling of the Christian, for God cares for you and considers you precious. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
St. Augustine said, “God loves everyone of us as though there were only one of us to love.” Therefore, let all your anxieties fall upon Him. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Cast your care upon Him for He cares for you. Cast here means “To throw upon.” There is more to it than just letting go and letting God. It takes effort for you have to cooperate with God. The birds are not fed without searching, nor would they keep from freezing if they did not obey their God given instinct to fly south. God expects us to do our part. We cannot cast on God the problems we can handle ourselves. Cast on Him the anxiety, but then get busy doing what you can do to change the cause of your anxiety. Jesus said that we cannot add one cubit to our stature by being anxious, and so we must accept what cannot be changed. A woman told me of an experience that she had with anxiety and granted me permission as an illustration. Her problem was nothing serious, but it was aggravating. There were two nails by a doorway on which the broom was hung. The wife used the lower nail, and when the husband used the broom he always put it back on the upper nail. This was disturbing to the wife until it dawned on her that this was a situation she could change. And what profound plan did she come up with to deal with her problem? She removed the upper nail, and her worries were over.
Don’t worry about what you can change. If you are walking around with a thousand dollars cash in your pocket, you will naturally have anxiety about its safety. All you have to do is put it in the bank and you can relax. Don’t carry things around that create worry. Cast them on Him who cares for you. Cast thou thy care upon thy God; The care that loads thy heart; Take Him this moment at His word, And let Him do His part. Thy need is deep, thy care is great, Thy burden hard to bear. Role it on Him with all its weight, And leave it resting there. Dr. Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, was so burdened down with responsibility that he had very little soul rest until he learned to cast his care on God. When he learned this through a fresh meeting with God he said, “As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible or so difficult, but the weight and strain are all gone.” This is what Jesus meant when He said that His yoke was easy and His burden light. We have much to bear in many trials to face, but He carries the heaviest part, which is the cares and anxieties that we cast upon Him. The remedy is not in escape, but in the power to see it through.
Philips Brooks said, “Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” The power is available if we will only cast off the anxieties that sap our energy. Jesus is our example. When He said don’t worry about tomorrow and about food and clothing, He was not speaking as one who had no experience. Joseph died when he was young, and he had the responsibility fo providing for His family. He knew what it was to go through hard times, but we see him constantly going aside to cast His care upon His heavenly Father. Anxiety is real, but the remedy is real as well, if we will, like Jesus, cast all our cares upon Him who care for us.
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