LEARNING DAILY

 

Psalm 55:22, Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

 

1 Peter 5:6-7, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

 

I laid in bed last night wondering and praying about what more I could do for some prayers I have been praying to be answered. I know God answers prayer in His way and in His timing; I get impatient. I know He sees into tomorrow because He is not limited by time and I know He knows best; I still try to help Him. He must shake His head and wonder if I will ever learn to trust Him fully. I just want Him to move in the lives of my loved ones and those around me to know deception and to walk on the narrow way as God wants them to. I keep praying, believing He really does know best!

 

That brings us to the verses from the Psalms and 1 Peter. Two important thoughts stand out to me this morning. First is that every Believer must humble themselves under God’s authority, believing and trusting He knows our every need, every concern, hears every prayer lifted to Him – He cares about each one of us. Secondly, we are to give all of our burdens, all the things and people we care about to Him.

 

Humility is to be the very center of every Christian’s walk with God. Humility is the “absence of pride, an honest awareness of one’s weaknesses, and the disposition to ascribe to God and others the credit for what one is achieving or has accomplished” (LSSB). Peter is encouraging, exhorting all Christians to walk on the narrow way in such humility that others would see and know there is something different about us, that we follow Christ. When we do, we will receive God’s grace and help. When we do, He exalts or lifts us up at the time He knows it is needed and best. Prideful people believe they can handle everything themselves, believing they do not need God. They point to their “success” in business, their accumulation of stuff, and their accomplishments. They can have all this while acknowledging God has blessed them to give Him glory and honor for doing so. “Humility means Christians should depend willingly on someone else and see others as better than themselves. God’s people should humble themselves ‘under the mighty hand of God’ and leave the exalting to Him” (DJSB).

 

Both the Psalmist and Peter tell us to “cast our burdens upon the Lord”. In other words, when situations come that cause us to fear, be anxious, and cause us to be concerned about what to do, Believers are to pray and not worry. The greatest formula to stop worry is to pray, give the burden(s) to God who really does care about you and your situation! This is emphasized throughout Scripture. Give the burden, the problem to Him and trust He will solve the situation and/or get you through it! When we do, the Psalmist says God will sustain us. Just like a newborn baby cannot live without the care and nurture of loving parents, we are made to live dependent on God’s care and His provision. God wants to be our provider, at least I believe that is what I read in the Bible. He wants to be our king, for His people to look to Him, to trust Him to handle our problems in His way, in His time for His honor and His glory. He cares for each of us and is pleased when we cast our cares upon Him.

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.