This morning I finished up my study of 1 Peter.  Let me tell you – if you haven’t dug into this book of the Bible, you need to!  It’s so rich with encouragement to us as believers living in such an ungodly culture.  If you are interested in learning more, reach out to me and I’d be happy to share what I learned through my study.  Anyway, I digress.  

1 Peter 5:7 is an often quoted verse – “…casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”  But what I saw as I studied is that 1 Peter 5:7 is the only second half of a sentence and should not be separated from the first half of the sentence.  The sentence in its entirety is seen below.  

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God 
so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your 
anxieties on Him, because He cares for you”. (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Let’s look at the first part of this powerful sentence.  “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God…” (verse 6). The phrase humble yourselves in the Greek language (tapeinoō) is an imperative (a command, not a suggestion).  Think this through with me.  If someone commands me to humble myself, I may be able to momentarily rearrange my thought process to think humble thoughts, but if I am not truly humble at heart, that’s not really humility, is it?   

So what is humility and how do I get there in my heart?  I heard a comment on the radio as I was driving the other day that has stuck with me.  (Thank you, Father, for placing me in the car at that exact time, and for arranging the show to be aired on that exact day, at that exact time. You are sovereign!) 

“Humility isn’t ignoring your strengths.  God gave those to you.  
Humility is the willingness to acknowledge your weaknesses.”  

Now if that doesn’t just pave the way for us to understand humility?!  Humility is not being so proud that you don’t recognize your weaknesses.  I looked up humility in the dictionary and one of the definitions struck me – having a spirit of deference.  As I recognize my inability to  “do life” on my own, I am poised to recognize my need of support from the mighty hand of God.  

The recognition of my weaknesses and my acknowledgement of God’s mighty strength is what propels me to do the second half of the sentence – “casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you”.  

The Greek word for casting (epiriptō) is in the participle mood (on-going, not one-and-done), and it means throwing.  When I looked up casting in the dictionary, I was struck by the end of the definition where the “archaic” use was listed – to decide, to intend.  Mind blown!!  I won’t see the necessity of “casting my anxieties” without the recognition of my own weaknesses compared to God’s strength (humility)!!!  

What comes to your mind when you think of anxiety?  I think nail-biting, emotional angst or unrest, fear.  While anxiety often includes those actions/feelings, the Greek work for anxiety (merimna) included something I didn’t think of – distraction.  

What comes to mind right now is what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10:41, “you are worried…about many things”.  In all her busyness of preparations and serving of a meal, Martha was distracted from the most important thing — sitting at Jesus feet.  He was telling Martha she was (merimna).  Distractions had caused Martha to lose sight of the main thing — Jesus.

How often do we fall prey to the same thing?  We wake up in the morning, and before our feet even hit the floor, we are contemplating how we will get our list of “to-do’s” done. No wonder we find ourselves in a perpetual state of anxiety.  

The last thing I want to mention is the incredible “why”, when it comes to the command to “humble yourself” and cast your anxieties and distractions on Jesus.  “…because He cares for you”.  The Greek word for cares (melei) means to be of interest to, to be concerned about, and when you follow it back to its root (mĕlō) we find that it means you are concerned about a person/thing because it matters.  

Summing it up.  Recognize and own your weaknesses (humble yourself).  Acknowledge God’s strength (under the mighty hand of God). This propels you to give your distractions and anxieties to Jesus (cast your cares).  Why?  You matter to God (He cares for you).