Woke up this morning. Proceeded to pray for the day. And then, I was reminded of something that blessed me yesterday - something that now has prompted me to do a little study. Oh, yes, I am going to tell you!
1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
I love this verse for two reasons.
1) We can cast all of our distresses, our worries, our fears, our concerns, whatever on our Heavenly Father. We can just pour it out (Psalm 62:8). 2) Why can we confidently do this? Because we have the assurance that He cares for us. He cares for me. He cares for you.
Basically, I want to know how God cares for us and what our response is to that care, in light of this verse.
So I wasn't going to just go with my own understanding of that special word "careth." I've done a decent amount of studying the Word, and I know most of those words mean a whole great deal more than what I would have perceived on the surface. So yes, you guessed it, I want to know more about that word in light of how God cares for us. Let's see if this works (haha):
Oh! The Greek word for "careth" is melÅ which is to be an object of care. We are objects of care to our Heavenly Father! How sweet!
Care, as defined by dictionary.com :P, is: to watch over; be responsible for; to act on; deal with; attend to.
See, I had a hunch. I just knew God wasn't going to only care about us in the sense of having affection or whatnot. Of course He does, but it goes so much further in that He takes action upon that care for us.
Some verses come to mind:
Philippians 4:19:
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
III John 2:
Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Ephesians 1:19:
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Sure, God's going to listen to you - to everything you have to say. But He's going to do something about it too. He's going to take care of every aspect of your life.
So how can we respond to this care? Well, I'm thinking more specifically and practically in light of 1 Peter 5:7.
This brings us to what blessed me yesterday: The day before I was just a'thinking and a'talking to God. And in that thinkin' and talkin' I was just focusing on things that I need to change in my life. I didn't know exactly how to go about doing that, though. Does that ever happen to you? Yeah? Well.. that was pretty much it for the day. I just went on about what I needed to do.
...
Yesterday I woke up and first things first I began reading the Word. I wasn't really sure what I was aiming to get out of it but I wanted to read because I knew I needed to!! Lo and behold, I finished reading an article and holy crap - I just found an answer to my concerns the day before. My concerns that I just casually mentioned to God. Turns out He heard them! Jk, I knew He did. But what struck me the most about this is two things:
When you have concerns, when you lift them to God, you may not see the answer immediately. The key is that 1) you continue going to God, continue going to His Word each day.
If we keep God first in our thoughts and actions each day we will be more spiritually "in-tune" to recognize our answer to prayer.
Well okay.. that was sort of a combination of one and two.
1) Continue in the Word
2) Keep your eyes open for those answers to your prayers!
Keep believing, keep trusting in God to meet your needs and He will. And it will be so awesome because you'll be blessed and you'll trust in Him even more and you'll continue to believe bigger because you know that your God cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified):
Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
I loooove you! Have an awesome day experiencing God's abundant care for your life!
