A Familiar Verse

All of us have Bible verses that, when we read them again, remind us of definite times in our lives when we needed that special encouragement. They are gifts that “keep on giving” over the years.

One of my verses that immediately comes to mind for me is:

I Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.”

I absolutely loved being in college! From the time I was a little girl, my desires in life were to be “a wife, a mother, AND an English teacher.”  Never did I vary from those dreams and God allowed me to have all three joys.

But...in college at Temple, my challenge was working fulltime throughout the school year and every summer for Dr. David Dzik and not going home to Pennsylvania. Then I was trying to give my best to Dr. and Mrs. Banta, Miss Ruby Wagner, and Mrs. Jewell Martin...not to mention History of Civilization!!! Some of you will recognize those names. J

I needed a Bible promise to get me through. There it was...God said I could cast or throw all my cares or burdens on Him because HE CARES FOR ME. What a comfort! Over and over I went to this promise while in college and have in all the years since. You know that the word CASTING implies a continual movement. So that need of casting my cares on the Lord never stops.

Recently I was reading this verse and realized the importance of the surrounding verses.

In verse six, we are told to “humble ourselves” before a mighty God.  I would think that when we humble ourselves we are telling the “mighty God” that we are just too weak to do what we need to do. We have to cast ourselves on His strength. That doesn’t mean that He will do our work for us. No! We do our work but with His power enabling us.

In verse eight, we are told to be “sober, vigilant.” Why? The Devil is looking for a Christian to defeat. Of course, I believe that some of us blame the Devil for problems that we create for ourselves. Perhaps we have made wrong choices that have created huge difficulties for us.

Why should we be “sober and vigilant”? The word “sober” can imply that we need to be serious about the Enemy. Never forget that Satan is active. If we have accepted Christ as Savior, we don’t have to worry about the Devil taking our salvation, but we need to guard our actions, words, thoughts, and reputations that he doesn’t tempt us to spoil these.

The word “vigilant” can also mean “alert.”  Be alert to situations that might cause you to stumble...but also be alert to times you can encourage others to “cast all their cares on the Lord.” He has told us to do that because HE CARES FOR US. What a promise!!!

--Maylou Holladay