Casting All Your care on God

Giving God our Cares   I Peter 5 :7
     When Peter writes his letter it was illegal to be a Christian, and therefore much persecution was prevalent.  1:6 " you are in heaviness through manifold temptations....the trial of your faith"  What are we to do with the cares we have ?
       Peter lays out what we are to do ...." Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."    The word casting is the same word used when the disciples " cast their garments upon the colt" in the triumphal entry. Luke 19:35
        I cannot help but note the verses around this command to cast our cares upon God.  Note the vs around it .  They talk about being subject to one another with humility.  " God sets Himself against the proud but to the humble He gives grace."  vs. 5  Are not all of God's gifts to us grace?  " Allow yourselves to be humbled" Selwyn translates it.  The example is given of the patient and the surgeon.  The patient submits himself to his 'operating hand' to enjoy the benefit.  I remember that prayer that I have used on too many occasions to recount,:
" For Those We Love"
" ALMIGHTY  God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come; knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"
       So prayer and humility go hand and hand.  Jesus gives us an illustration of this.  Luke 18 ," And he spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others"---the publican & the Pharisee .  The Pharisee said , " I thank thee God that I am not as other men are...."  " The Publican , standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.  ....'  The point is , " every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
         All of us have a list of cares.  Some are more needy than others.  Some are sick and need our prayers.  They too need to pray.  Doctors do their work and sometimes what they do is not enough.  It is not enough to cure us.  We thank God for good doctors and hospitals and our families who take us there.  But sometimes we are left absolutely in God's hands.  Were we not there all the time anyway?  So we entrust all who who are dear to us to God's never failing care and love for He does for us better things than we can desire or pray for.
          We usually pray for immediate relief or healing but that is not always God's way in our situations.  Ronald Reagan's attitude after the 1982 attempt on his lfe made an impression on his daughter, Patti Davis " The following day my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of Christ-like thinking." in " Leadership Magazine, Christianity Today, Inc."
            We have been studying in our WED night pm services the book by the former Chaplain of the US Senate, Lloyd Ogilivie.  Ogilvie talks about " left luggage"  ( luggage that is left at hotels in Europe that is not needed for the next leg of the trip) & he also calls it luggage that is on ships that is stamped " not needed for the voyage".   He says these are the things that we carry through our lives that we have not resolved, past hurts, unresolved history of anger with others and things like this.  These things are not needed for the voyage here on our way through life , are they?
               Max Lucado tells a story in a book called " It's Not About Me" about a friend of his who had cancer. Some well-intentioned Christians had told him " if you have faith, then you will be healed".  But no healing came, only a crisis of faith in that man's life. Max suggested another answer to him," It's not about you" I told him. " Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith, in the face of suffering, cranks up the volume of God's song."  (as in Max Lucado, It's Not About Me, pg. 126)
               All of us have friends or family who are not doing well in some way, shape or manner.  We could be a help to them, but sometimes we are just the opposite.  We have let previous hurt get in the way that keeps us from reaching out to them.  I applied this just as an illustration not to say that I have great abilities in this hard action.  I was reading a devotion and one of the Lenten actions was to reach out to someone who you knew you were estranged from for whatever reason.  I did that , and they admitted too they had been part of the problem  . No we do still do not agree about the issue, but we are trying to be concerned about each other and try and listen to each other's concerns as well.  Instead of shouting platitudes at each other we have learned that our relationship is more important than our beliefs.
                Today we are encouraged to cast all our cares upon God for He cares for us.  This is difficult for us to believe when we look more at the things that are seen than unseen.  I think one of my most favorite vs in the Bible is the one I have said here, " ...we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things  which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."  We entrust all who are dear to us unto God and to His unfailing providence.  These things are not seen, but they are eternal and real.
                  Do you and I believe this?  Do we believe that as the Scripture says so wonderfully that " underneath are the everlasting arms?"  Deut. 33:27  .  So the trials, difficulties as Peter so rightly tells us are the " trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth , though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
   Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.