He cares for you!

"Throwing all your cares on Him because you are the object of His concern." (my translation) 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." (Actual Verse)

Being the object of God; He knows what you need, right?

God is able to provide what you need, right?

Then why bother Him about it?

Why pester Him with your constant requests?

After all, you don’t expect your children to come to you for everything do you?

You often anticipate what they really need and fulfill those needs without waiting for them to ask

Doesn’t God do the same thing?

The answer is, “Of course.”

God provides our very existence.

We can be grateful for all the things that we receive from His hand without a single word of request.

That is not the point of Peter’s proclamation, nor is it the point of Jesus’ parables of the unjust judge and the resistant friend, both of which are about the nature of prayer.

The point that Peter wants to make is that it is the nature of God to care.

If we only understood just how much God cares!!...our prayers would be radically altered and our desire to come before Him would be great.

Peter uses the unusual Greek word melei.

The translation “He cares for you,” isn’t quite what this word means. The word means “to be an object of concern.

You are the object of God’s concern! You are the object of His infinite Love!

His concern is focused on you.

You as as an individual.

When we think of someone caring about us, we might not have in mind the intense focus of heart-felt energy that God expends on our behalf.

In fact, God’s care for you and me is demonstrated in the ultimate sacrifice.

He willingly died for us.

God who willing went to those lengths to redeem you is not about to abandon you after He has paid the price to bring you back.

As the object of His concern, every tiny detail of your life comes under His watchful and gentle hand.

Peter underlines this important point by contrasting our cares (anxiety over the things of this world) with God’s care.

Our cares are merimna ! – those things that bring about mental and emotional disruption.

Anxiety fragments us.

It breaks up the peace within and creates instability, worry and fear.

God’s care does exactly the opposite.

Notice that as long as I try to manage and fix the issues of my life, I am subject to the chaos and confusion of the broken world.

Why?

Because my natural life feeds on the supply from this broken world.

It only displays what it eats.

Only when we surrender to the Spirit, we are empowered by a force outside of this natural realm.

When we find food that is not of this world; the kind of food that brings peace, harmony and order; precisely the things that characterize the nature of God who is the source of my new food.

Our daily food is in hidden manna in the form of the Bible - His Word. If we want peace in our life, then we need a new kind of diet.

A diet feasting on His Word and being in His presence.

Only then the care that He has always had for me will begin to be manifest in my life.

Attempting to achieve harmony through personal force produces chaos and anxiety.

The way to harmony is surrender.

Why do I pray?

Why would you not?

When we pray it should expresses my deepest real concerns.

We should pray because of who He is, and what He has done for us.

Our prayers will become joyful conversations with my caregiver.

They are sanity therapy for a hurting soul.

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." James 4:3