1 Peter 5:6-7 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety
on Him, because He cares for you.
“Under the mighty hand of God” is an Old Testament symbol of
the power of God working in the experience of men, always accomplishing His
sovereign purpose. We are not to fight
the sovereign hand of God, even when it brings us through trials and tests. One of the evidences of a lack of submission
and humility is impatience with God in His work of humbling each believer. God will lift up the suffering, submissive
believer in His wisely appointed time.
As for the connection between verse 7 and 6, note that the
verb "casting" in verse 7 is a participle (ends in "-ing")
making it dependent upon verse 6 and therefore becoming one of the means by
which we humble ourselves. This verse
partly quotes and partly interprets Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden upon the LORD
and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
“Casting” means “to throw something on something,” as to
throw a blanket on a donkey (Luke 19:35) and the tense used also means it is a one-time
action. We are to once and for all give
all of our cares—past, present, and future—to the Lord.
What could inhibit us from doing this? For me, it comes down to trust. My Dad was not that engaged and I felt like he sent me the message, "I don't know if you can make it in this world but you are on your own". So, I made a vow as a teenager that I would never need anyone. Fast-forward, and I still struggle to trust that anyone else (including God) has my best interests in mind. But I know that is a lie and God can be trusted - but I always have to fight my initial emotional response, which is to handle things on my own.
This set of verses in Peter says God does indeed care but His care comes when we humble ourselves and trust in and depend upon Him fully. Peter earlier said to "let those also who
suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:19) Entrust is a banking term meaning “to deposit
for safe keeping.” And Peter uses
Creator to remind us that we are simply giving back to God what He has created.
So, God can be trusted with our cares and even our souls. And as we humble ourselves before Him we can begin to truly rest. Humility’s presence leads to anxiety’s absence. When we take matters into our own hands
through too much worry, we indicate an absence of humility. Whether it’s unemployment, exams, singleness,
or recurring illness, we may not be able to remove the causes of our anxiety but we can be rid of the anxiety produced by those circumstances. Our anxiety itself is what we cast upon the
Lord, doing exactly what the Bible says to do: humbling ourselves under God’s
hand, saying, “Father knows best.”
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