Orange Moon Cafe "Caring and Casting"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe...

 

   "Caring and Casting"

   

    "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you" (I Peter 5:7).

 

   Is there a "care" we have not "cast?"  If so, the remembrance that "He careth for you" goes far in motivating the proactive determination to trust the Lord about matters that tempt us to fear and trepidation.

 

    "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee" (Psalm 56:3).

 

   The One to whom we transfer our concerns can do something about them.  He can solve problems, provide for needs, protect us from harm, and  lift us up after falls. "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6).  Or, in times when God's purposes do not permit Him to circumstantially rescue us, He can strengthen our hearts in the midst of our trial.  "Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies" (Psalm 23:5).  Either way, God's caring and our casting unite to deliver us from troubles, or in them.

 

   "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

    Note the bedrock guarantee declared by the Apostle Paul: if we determine to "be careful for nothing" (to not let any fear or anxiety govern us), and if we prayerfully and thankfully offer our requests to our Lord, His transcendent peace will guard our hearts and minds.  What a blessed promise!  However, in the assurance lies also the challenging reality that if our hearts and minds are not at peace, we can know we have not "cast" despite the truth that God "cares."  We may have prayed, and we may have in some manner affirmed faith in our Lord.  But something is missing when peace is missing.  That something may well involve a deficit in our confidence in God's caring.  We either do not know well enough, or we have forgotten our Heavenly Father's loving devotion to our best interest and His complete involvement in every aspect of our lives.  "I have loved thee with an everlasting love… The very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Jeremiah 31:3; Matthew 10:30).

 

    God's caring, known and decisively affirmed in our hearts and minds, results in our casting and in His keeping.  Thus, we do well to open our Bibles with the earnest and prayerful intent to better know our Heavenly Father.  The Spirit of God will bear witness to our hearts of the "everlasting love" that impacts every moment and every contingency.  This includes the moment at hand, when God's caring beckons us to our casting.  The peace of our hearts and mind is at stake, but far more, the opportunity to "glorify ye the Lord in the fires" calls us to the confidence resulting from caring and casting…

 

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."

(Isaiah 26:3)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

     "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

 (Hebrews 13:8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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