Casting Lessons

On June 11, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 55: 22

Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

This is from yesterday’s psalm. The good news in this verse is too good to pass up. Undoubtedly it puts you in remembrance of 1 Peter 5: 7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” (NIV). I love finding these Old Testament passages which are the mirror reflection of New Testament verses which we hold so dear. It is easy to get lulled into the idea that the God of the Old Testament is very different from the New Testament God. We end up cherishing the New Testament as our Bible and all too often neglecting the Old Testament which is great error.

God always cared for us as His own. He always wanted us to give Him our cares and worries. His intent was always to carry our burdens and give us His peace. Remember this psalm was written by David. Here is how it reads in the Passion Translation, “So here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Leave all your cares and anxieties at the feet of the Lord, and measureless grace will strengthen you.” David learned how to give all his care, anxiety and worries to the Lord in exchange for the Lord’s measureless grace. Can you even contain that idea? It’s amazing really. I like that we receive this wisdom from David because he tested the Lord’s ability to save, rescue, and protect. Was anyone as persecuted as David. Even in the throne room he had spears hurled at him, but the Lord always delivered him. David had plenty of worries and lots of anxiety so if he was able to exchange that load and in return receive boundless grace which strengthens, then we ought to be able to do the same thing. We have worries and anxieties but at least we do not have actual spears being thrown at us. So, I feel like if God’s grace was sufficient for David, it should be enough for me too.

Jesus told us to take his yoke upon us because it is light. He will carry our burden, freeing us from anxiety and worry. In fact, it’s wrong of us to worry and fret and may I tell you the entire truth? It is sin. Jesus has himself said not to worry. The Holy Spirit through Peter told us to cast all our care upon the Lord so if we are not doing so, we are sinning. We need to think through these passages and understand this truth. Sometimes we think it is holy to worry or irresponsible not to worry. Both are wrong thoughts. Both are self-righteous exaltations of ourselves as our own Gods. We were never meant to carry the troubles on our shoulders. We have received a direct order from the King, “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you.” To fail to cast your burden onto Him is to exalt yourself as your own God. This is serious business. Sometimes you just need to ask, “Who is my God? Is it me or Yahweh?” Our behaviors might portray a different answer than the one we wish to live by. Why are you worried? What has you upset? Do as the Passion Translation says for 1 Peter 5: 7, “Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.” That’s the right way to live, the way God intended, the way He has commanded.

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Casting

On February 11, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 55: 22

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you.

Tuesday we looked at 1 Peter 5: 7 which reads, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” Seeing this same idea in the Old Testament brings three thoughts. The first thing which occurs to me is that God has not changed (Malachi 3: 6). The Old Testament God wants to care for us just like the New Testament God does. Secondly, it seems to me that Peter was increasing the understanding of Psalm 55 in his statement. Peter’s ministry was predominantly to Jews. Therefore, his audience would already know Psalm 55 and to cast their burdens onto the Lord.  They would also have known that this is the methodology for receiving God’s sustenance. Peter’s teaching explains why God gave them Psalm 55 in the first place. Peter explains that all of this is because God cares for us. 

Lastly, we can enter this verse through the back door and really wrap Psalm 55 and 1 Peter 5: 7 up in a pretty bow. The backdoor is that God wishes to sustain us. Therefore, He teaches us to cast our care upon Him. In other words, if you want God to sustain you then He has shown us that the way to receive that sustenance is to give Him all of our cares and burdens. Begin with the result and work your way backward to find out what you must do in order to receive that result. Do not stop there, though. The conclusion is that God provides our sustenance and the methodology for receiving it because He cares for us. We get to see His motivation for ever speaking Psalm 55.

For thousands of years now God has been calling us to go to Him to receive our daily bread and every other need met as well. He calls to us because He loves us and wants to take care of us. That is why it is almost sinful for us to “take care”. That is the role God has appointed for Himself. He is the ultimate caregiver, so roll all of your cares over on Him and receive the sustaining grace of His love.

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Care Giver

On March 30, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 55: 22

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Jesus made us the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5: 21). That means we need not ever be shaken. That is good news, yes? But there is another aspect of this right standing with God that we need to appreciate. Peter wrote about it in 1 Peter 5: 7, “casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” The King James Version says to cast all your care upon Him. The promise of God is that He will sustain us but we must first cast our care upon Him. How can He sustain us if we are carrying the burden? We have to give Him our cares if we want Him to carry them.

 It may sound like a small thing but I really do cringe when I hear Christians telling each other to “take care.” I have said that for so many years myself and now I try to arrest myself and even correct that expression when I hear it coming out of my mouth. It is unscriptural, unbiblical and it kinda bugs me because while it may seem like a small thing it still is undermining the operation of the Kingdom of God. There are properties of the Kingdom of God just like there are the properties of physics. If you try to defy the laws of physics you will get a revelation in a hurry. When we violate the Kingdom principles we will experience the ramifications of those choices as well. Then many of us end up saying, “This faith stuff doesn’t work” or “God didn’t come through for me.” That is like saying God threw me down on the pavement when you jumped out of the third story window. Hello! The laws always work. Gravity doesn’t turn off just because we pray. The Kingdom laws are the same way. We cannot concurrently take care and give our care to the Lord. It is one or the other. And the Lord cannot sustain us if we don’t give Him the care of things. Do you see how the package all fits together? Really it is about our relationship with Him and trust. We are encouraged to cast all of our burdens on the Lord and let Him take care of them. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Implied in there is that you are supposed to give him the weight of those heavy burdens. It is all consistent. God wants to be our care taker. He wants to sustain us and carry our heavy burdens but we must first release them to Him. Then we will not be shaken because He is the keeper of our souls, the bearer of our burdens and the sustainer of our lives.

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He Cares For You

On April 1, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 55: 22                NIV


Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

In all of these thousands of years God has not changed.  He wanted to carry the cares of Adam but Adam wanted to be his own God.  He wanted to bear the burden of the Israelites out in the desert but they would not walk in faith and trust.  In today’s passage the Holy Spirit spoke through David to tell the people of that age to cast all of their care upon the Lord.  God didn’t even stop there.  In 1 Peter 5: 7 God instructs New Testament believers to cast “all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 

God’s desire to care for His kids has never waned.  Since the beginning of time He has been challenging His children to lean on Him and allow Him to carry those cares and worries.  Even in this age He wants to take the worry and concerns from our shoulders.

We are suppose to not only read the Word but also do the Word.  Today’s verse, especially in conjunction with 1 Peter 5: 7, is a good example of what it means to “do the Word”.  We have been given something specific to do, cast all of our care upon the Lord.  Therefore, in order to walk as a disciple of the Lord Jesus we must give him all of our worries and concerns.  To do less is to be in disobedience.  That may sound harsh but it is for your freedom that Jesus came and his purpose was to free us all from bondage.  Every day you should consciously give the Lord every problem and every anxious thought.  Your job is to trust the Lord; all the problems are his.  Don’t take care.  Don’t be careful.  Be carefree in the love of Jesus and His Father.  This is your right and inheritance.  It is also the command of the Lord.  In Jesus’ name, cast all your care.

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