Casting Your Care

By Dr. Sterling Walsh

The burdens of life can load us down to the point of crushing us if we attempt to handle them all with our limited human strength. The Lord has made provision, however, for those who are bearing more than they are able to carry. In one succinct, yet bold statement, the case is made. "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." ( I Peter 5:7)

In Casting Your Care, Dr. Sterling Walsh has exposed our vulnerability and given us a fresh look at the abundant care the Lord has in store for us when we turn to him in our times of need.

Trials and difficulties are no "strange thing" (I Peter 4:12) even for a Christian. They are a normal part of life in this world, but we can survive the stress successfully if we will believe God and allow Him to demonstrate His care for us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sword of the Lord Foundation
• Release date: Jan 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9780873982405

Book preview

Casting Your Care

by

Dr. Sterling Walsh

Illustrator

P. O. Box 1099 • Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37133

[phone] • [phone] • FAX [phone]

www.SwordoftheLord.com

Copyright 2013 by

Sword of the Lord Publishers

Distributed by Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (printed, written, photocopied, electronic, audio or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Bible.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Can I Really Live Like That?

2. Humble Yourself

3. Casting All Your Care Upon Him

4. How to Cast Your Care Upon Him

5. The Adversary

6. Steadfast in the Faith

7. Suffer a While

8. What We Are to Do During the Time of Faith

9. The Results of Living Through the Time of Faith

Bibliography

At one time or another, all Christians seem to be challenged by the matter of casting our cares on the Lord. Though we may often feel our circumstances are unique and that what we are experiencing is more difficult than what others are facing, it is true that we all have cares and that nothing is impossible with God. These principles are clearly laid out for us in Scripture.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry."—I Cor. 10:13, 14.

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."—Jas. 1:2–4.

We all struggle with temptations that try our faith. In fact, any type of trying is a temptation only if it puts pressure on our faith. The temptation brings us to a point where we must decide if God is real, trustworthy and able to supply the need or if we should trust ourselves to deal with the situation. God wants us to believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Heb. 11:6). We tend to trust what we can see rather than him who is invisible (vs. 27).

The way we react to the temptation reveals the condition of our faith in God. If we continue to obey God when temptation comes, then the pressure reveals that our trust is in God. If, when we are tempted, we leave the path to which God has called us and take our own route to solve the problem, we prove that our posture toward God is not one of true faith at all. The just are to live by faith. We are not to succumb to the sin of idolatry and worship the mindless idols of this world. Rather, we are to trust the everlasting arms of God.

God allows trials to enter our lives for the purpose of molding us into the image of Christ. Sadly, we often allow these trials to overwhelm and defeat us. Instead of casting our cares on the Lord and learning to live by faith, we try to carry these burdens on our own. Our faith is in ourselves or, at least, in ourselves more than in God. Over and over we fight this battle, and over and over the burdens prove to be more than we can handle. God intended them to be that way so that we would look to Him.

If God allows us to handle our burdens on our own, He is actually teaching us to trust in ourselves rather than in Him. If God allows us to handle our burdens well without Him, He is teaching us to displease Him, which makes no sense. How is that? Without faith it is impossible to please him (Heb. 11:6). If God teaches us to have faith in ourselves rather than faith in Him, He is teaching us to displease Himself.

In fact, anything that is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). So if God were teaching us to trust in ourselves rather than in Him, He would be teaching us to live a life of sin.

In any church congregation, one can find people in all sorts of circumstances and all states of mind. There are some folks who have lost loved ones. There are some who are facing health problems. There are some who feel as if the world is falling apart around them. Some are carrying burdens which they never dreamed they would have to bear. Some are having problems at home—some with their marriages and some with their children. Some are facing financial disaster.

Yet the Lord is more than willing to carry His children through these times of trials. He wants to show Himself faithful and true. God wants to show His glory by proving that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD."—Lam. 3:21–26.

Often we hear passages such as Casting all your care upon him referred to during a funeral or another time of dire circumstances. However, in these pages you will find that ‘casting our cares’ is not just something that is reserved for times of abnormal trouble. Casting our cares on Him should be a way of life. When we make it a habit to cast our cares on the Lord, we will not feel like we have run into a wall when something undesirable happens unexpectedly. We will remember that God is faithful. We can be confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

These chapters include material from a series of messages that was preached at the Lighthouse Baptist Church of Dover, Pennsylvania. The truths touched the hearts of many. Audio copies of the messages were spread across the area.

The truths that are taught in these pages can revolutionize lives. It is the author’s goal to help each burdened soul to understand how to cast his cares upon the Lord and experience the sweet peace that God fully intends and desires for His children.

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you [lift you up, bring you to the top] in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."—I Pet. 5:5–7.

This passage is a great encouragement. Yet many Christians have never realized the fulfillment of these words in their own lives. Too many folks want to give their cares to God and yet never actually succeed in doing so. Often the problem is that there is a simple yet, at the same time, difficult prerequisite that they are unwilling to meet.

Notice that at the end of I Peter 5:6 there is a colon. This punctuation tells us that the thought is not complete. This means that verse 7 is an extension of the thought found in verse 6. There are not two different thoughts here, but it is one continuous thought. You could say that that which comes after the colon clarifies that which precedes it.

So let’s read it again with that understanding.

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

While we are humbling ourselves to God and giving Him all that we are, problems are going to arise, and fears are going to well up in us. Those cares will need to be cast upon God. Since God resists the proud, we should humble ourselves until we are willing to cast our cares upon Him, knowing that He cares for us.

Are You Talking to Me?

Notice to whom I Peter 5 is addressed. In verse 1 of the chapter, Peter refers to the elders which are among you. Verse 2 says to feed the flock of God. Verse 3 says, Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. In verse 4, Peter speaks of the chief Shepherd. This assumes there must also be undershepherds over whom Jesus is the chief Shepherd.

This passage is first directed to those who bear the burdens of the ministry: those who work in the pastoral leadership, in the Sunday school department, in the addictions program of your church or in the offices of the church. It is originally directed toward those who are in leadership. Peter is telling those who are in leadership positions that they need to cast the burdens, which are derived from their positions, on the Lord.

However, in looking at verse 5, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you [emphasis added] be subject one to another," we see that every one—not just those with the pressing burdens of leadership—would benefit from the truths that are taught in this passage. Peter is reminding us that everyone can have the truths of this passage working in his or her life. Everyone needs to cast his care upon the Lord.

The weight of the ministry is usually the sum of all that is burdening the people, not only as it relates to the ministry and its programs but also in the context of the individual lives of the congregants. Those in leadership can easily be burdened by circumstances in their own lives, but often the leader must also deal with the burdens in the collective lives of the members of the church family.

A pastor may try his best to care for each household of his church, but as hard as he may try, he can do only so much and keep only so much straight. Doing his very best, he will at times miss some things.

I am privileged to be the pastor of a church which many people call their home. Within that group, there are many burdens. Some needs are personal, some are spiritual, some emotional, and some physical. Concerns may be financial, marital, family, health; there may be grief over the death of a loved one; there may be any of so many other problems.

I do not do as well tending to the needs of our people as I would like, but I do what I can. I have folks remark to me, How do you deal with the weight of so many cares of so many people day after day? I have found that the ministry has been a tremendous institution of higher learning. Either the crucible of the ministry will refine a man, bringing him continually closer to God; or it will break him. At times we must be broken before we can be remade.

I love all our church folks individually, whether they have been longstanding members of our church or have visited only a time or two. I tell our visitors, If you have been here once, you are family. Some folks may think that I do not love them because I have missed something in their lives—have forgotten to call them or forgotten their hospital appointment or some other thing; but I do love them. When they hurt, I hurt. I try to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep (Rom. 12:15).

In my years in the ministry, I have dealt with death and disappointment among our folks. I have been in the middle of family feuds and marital explosions. I have put loved ones in the grave and restrained some