Cast Your Cares On God Alone Who Cares

A meditation to 1 Peter 5:6-11.

ATTACKS of the enemy occur with regular affront when we are won to the Kingdom of God, yet rarely, if ever, are we schooled in these at conversion. We normally have to resist Satan by experience, having been swallowed almost whole at some earlier time. Resisting Satan is a learned competency in the realm of belief upon Jesus.

Note how the apostle Peter warns us to humble ourselves. We must allow God to be Sovereign, for if we don’t we believe a lie, and we give sovereign power to the enemy to do to us what he likes. It will not end well.

We humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand so that he may raise us “in due time,” not before time. The time of humility — even the time of humiliation — is the time for patience and observation; to look at what God is already doing, and what he has already done.

We are told to cast all our anxiety on him, alone, who cares. He is the only one who can alleviate our suffering, and generally he is quick to remind us, through his people, that we are not the only ones suffering.

What can we do? Discipline ourselves. Stay alert. Be watchful. Keep at the ready.

At times of attack that’s probably all we want to do, as we simply rally our resources.

Resources are at something of a premium when that frontal attack comes. But the resources are always there. The enemy’s chief lie is the impotence and disinterest of God. Jesus has overcome and the Holy Spirit is enthralled at our behest. As we rest in the fact of our faith, God himself restores, supports, strengthens and re-establishes us.

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Whenever we suffer the debilitating indignity of the devil’s attack — when our confidence plummets and we’re filled with doubt — there is encouragement in a simple solution.

God cares for those who believe,

God cares for those the devil would deceive,

Cast your cares on him, alone, who has power,

Cast your cares on him, now, this very hour.

Humble yourself under the Lord’s Almighty hand,

And before he exalts you he’ll give you strength to stand,

Resist that prowling lion; that one who would devour,

Run to Jesus in the Spirit; rest in his mighty power.

And after you have suffered, albeit a little while,

Know that you’ll have suffered in humanity’s common style,

Know also most of all that the God of all good grace,

Will hold you true evermore even until you see his face.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.