‘Casting’, or ‘keeping’

Mon, 28 Jun 2021

‘Casting all your care upon Him.’ 1 Peter 5:7

When it comes to dealing with your fears and worries, you have two choices; cast them on the Lord, or keep them and try to handle them yourself. When the communists came to power in China, missionary Isobel Kuhn decided to escape on foot across the snow-covered mountains into Burma. There she was—stranded at the world’s end, with no money and no way to get home.

‘I cannot tell you the dismay and alarm that filled me,’ she wrote. But she made two decisions. ‘The first thing is to cast out fear,’ she said. ‘The only fear a Christian should entertain is the fear of sin. All other fears are from Satan, sent to confuse and weaken us.’ So Isobel prayerfully trusted God, and rejected panic. Second, she sought His guidance as to the next step, and eventually she arrived home safely.

Here’s an important key to victory: instead of living with your fears and allowing them to take root within you, identify them and confront them the moment you become conscious of them. Next, turn each fear into a prayer and give it to God, refusing to take it back, confident that He will handle it for you. And don’t just do it with some of your fears and worries, do it with all of them.

‘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.’ (1 Peter 5:7 AMPC) You’ll never be entirely free of fear and worry, but by God’s grace you can do a lot better than you have in the past.