1 Peter 5:7
Cast your care upon him; for he careth for you.
There are so many things going on in this world that we can not control, things that can become unbearably heavy if we choose to carry any of them with human strength.
How often do we find ourselves handing over to God something that we simply can not carry anymore, only to take them back a few days later? Maybe even minutes later? Are we handing them over, telling Him that He is in control over this situation? Telling Him that we have come to realize our helplessness, only to shortly after think, never mind, I need to hold on to this just a little while longer? How often do we cast our cares, only to reel them back in like the fisherman does his line? Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.
It is one of the hardest things to do and yet at the same time one of the easiest things that we could do. To let go and let God. When it feels like letting go will cause our situations to spin out of control even more. But.. its overwhelmingly surprising what really happens, when you finally believe with all your heart that the one who can calm the sea can also calm all your fears and anxieties.
In Acts 16, the multitudes rose up against Paul and Silas, tearing of their clothes, beating them with many stripes and threw them into prison, locking their feet into stocks. What did these men do in this trial that we have never been faced with? At midnight they were heard praying and singing hymns to God, the prisoners around them listening to them. Surely these prisoners sat there looking at Paul and Silas, analyzing their bloody body, their feet locked into stocks, wondering how on earth they found the will to pray and sing so loudly at midnight when it looked like all odds were greatly against them. When it must have seemed like they had been forsaken. But shortly after, these men’s deliverer, in just a moment, unlocked every chain in that prison house.
But there arose another problem, the keeper of the prison was now in a dilemma, he was faced with a situation, that seemed too out of control for him to endure. He saw all the prison doors were wide open, leaning on his frail human strength, he thought that the only thing that was left for him to do was draw his sword and commit suicide. Blessed was he that Paul cried out with a loud voice as He was about to end his life, begging him to not harm himself. This jailer now saw that he was in contact with men that did not lean on human strength and falling down before them he trembled and asked what he must do to be saved. The answer came, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
That very hour the guard washed their stripes and immediately he and all his family were baptized. Had this guard believed only half heartedly, in a formal, lukewarm kind of way, he would never have found the strength to take these heavily guarded men into his own home, allowing himself and all his family to be baptized by them. A man trembling with fear at the situation before him, lost his view of this situation BECAUSE he believed with all his heart in the deliverer that surrounded his 2 prisoners. Are we someone that says we believe, or are we someone that believes and trusts Him with all our heart? Can we let go of our trials and situations like these men did?
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
The reality is this, while we remain in control of our many burdens and troubles, all our situations will REMAIN out of control, because we have not placed them into His arms. He alone has the ability to carry all the world’s problems in the very palm of His hands.
In Judges 10, God accused the children of Israel, that they have forsaken Him and served other god’s, therefore His promise was this, I will deliver you no more. He told them to go cry out to the gods which they have chosen and He said, let them deliver you in your time of distress.”
They then cried out, we have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to you, only deliver us this day, we pray. So they put away their foreign gods and they served the Lord. Scripture then states that God’s soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. The soul, who can carry the burdens of this world, could no longer endure to behold their misery.
Are we any different then the children of Israel when we ourselves carry things that are not ours to carry? Too often we choose for ourselves a other resource which is man or self. We might lean heavily upon man and burden them with cares that they can’t change. Then we turn to self and we think that we will carry the rest. Scripture says, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength. It’s a heart that has departed from the Lord. Who is it that we trust? Can God’s heart endure looking at our miseries, as we wait for earthly resources to help us?
Jeremiah 17:5
Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.
James 16
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
We may say that we do not serve other gods but the question is this, if we truly serve the one true God, trusting Him with our life, then why do we doubt and hesitate to leave everything in His nail scarred hands? He says ask in faith, with NO doubting. There can be no room at all for doubt if we expect to move the hand of divinity. Our doubt cannot move His hand, but surely are faith will!! When there is doubt, then we are like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Our Lord makes it quite clear that such a man, should not suppose that he will receive anything from Him. He calls such a person double minded, unstable in all his ways.
Hebrews 11
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If we truly believe in Him as we kneel before Him then we will act like we believe, as we lay down this burdensome yoke that does not belong on our shoulders.
Maybe we need to be reminded of these 3 men that stood before the king of Babylon. To give us a picture, of what leaning on Him really looks like. So confident were they in their Redeemers help that they trusted in Him even as they would be cast into the fire of a furnace that was turned up 7 times hotter then the usual temperature.
In Daniel 3, the king mocked the God that the 3 Hebrews served and asked, whom is the god that will deliver you out of my hands? They confessed that they had no need to answer him in this matter and they stood there and they showed the proud king just how much their faith in God will not waver, come what may.
Not even for a moment did the fire, nor the fact that it was turned up 7 times hotter, change this confidence that these men had in the Great I Am! They were good and ready to lay down their own life’s that day and why is it that many of us that confess to believe, can’t even lay down our burdens and let Him carry them for us? If we can’t even do that, how could we possibly do what these men of faith did?
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Had the fire in their heart not burned for the one who was their help, they would have been overwhelmed and they would have bowed their knees as did all the others, who were not confident in the help of God. The king had underestimated the faith and fire within these men. They with confidence said, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
Daniel 3
18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
They were ready to place their deadly situation into His hands and they trusted that their deliverer will be there. This they did even though they knew not what the results would be. They focused not on the outcome that could be but rather their focus was on their deliverer. They knew that nothing would happen to them unless He allows it. It’s not everyday that our helper, our burden bearer shows himself to humanity as He surrounds the ones who put their trust in Him but that doesn’t make it less true that He’s there among those that trust Him. We may not see him but we should be able to feel how light it is as He takes our everything upon himself.
These men were thrown down, bound in the fire but their helper had already drawn near, He was already in the fire. There he placed them on their feet, causing the astonished King to haste in rising from his seat to see with clearer eyes the 4th man walking in the fire. He arose and saw for the first time the God that he had just mocked, thinking that there’s no way that any God could deliver these men. This proud king had to confess that there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
1 Chronicles 16:11
Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!
Many of us might desire to walk in a fire with the Son of God walking by our side. To walk with Him in the midst of a fire that has no power to burn us. But how few of us lean on Him to the extent that these men did? How few of us can testify that they have walked through situations, trials, or whatever it might be, where they experienced the undeniable help of the 4th man that walked in the midst of a furnace that held 3 men that did not waver in believing in their fateful deliverer?
Isaiah 26
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
May Christ not weep over us as He wept over Jerusalem. He wanted to gather them under His almighty wings but they were not willing.
Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.