EmmDev 2021-06-23 [God's help in Tough Times] Pride makes worry worse#2

Pride makes worry worse#2

Yesterday we looked at how anxiety takes on a life of its own and becomes an escalating loop. We saw that humility was needed: It's not my life and we need to trust God's mighty hand of providence.

Today we come to the third aspect of humility in the face of worry and this is the humility to "let go and let God." The verb that Peter uses for "cast" is a past participle which implies an ongoing process that has almost become a background activity - it implies a lifetime and lifestyle of entrusting our burdens to God. 

There's the well-loved poem by Loretta P Burns that reads:

As little children bring their broken toys in tears for us to mend

I took my broken dreams to God because He was my friend

But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried, "How could You be so slow"-

"My child," He said, "What could I do? You never did let go."

The other time the New Testament uses this verb in this form is when the disciples "cast" their cloaks onto the colt that Jesus rides into Jerusalem for the Triumphal Entry. Think about the significance of that moment - it was the start of Jesus' journey to the cross. And He did not falter until he could say: "It is finished." When we "cast" our burdens on to Him we can know that He will see it through.

We have a replica of a Good News Bible picture by Annie Valotton at the front of our sanctuary. It's a picture of people leaving their burdens at the foot of the cross and walking away renewed, restored and healed.

It's a helpful picture:
The cross is our reminder that He cares for us.
But it also reminds us not to circle back and pick our burdens up again...

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter5:6-7)

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