Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3273
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
THIS season of depression in trade has brought great care to many a house and heart, especially to village pastors and their flocks. Their troubles have been heavy and I am afraid their cares have not been light. Few have escaped the pinch of these hard times—the most prosperous have to watch the ebbing tide and ask—How long shall these things be? The subject will be seasonable to us all.
A very good preface to any sermon is the connection—let us look at the passage before us. The verse preceding it is, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” If we are truly humble, we shall cast our care upon God and, by that process, our joy will be exalted! We are slow to submit to the hand of God and oftentimes our care is fretful rebellion against our heavenly Father’s will. We determine to carve for ourselves, and so we cut our fingers! I saw upon a cart only yesterday the name of a tradesman who calls himself, “Universal Pro-vider”—do we not aspire to some such office? There isa Universal Provider—and if we are humble under His hand, we shall leave our matter in His hands. Oh, for more humility, for then shall we have more tranquility! Pride begets anxiety—true humility gives birth to patience.
The verse which follows our text is this—“Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.” Cast your care upon God because you need all your powers of thought to battle with the great enemy. He hopes to devour you by care. Cast all your care upon God, for if you are worried you cannot be sober or watchful. Satan rides on the back of carnal care and so obtains entrance into the soul. If he can distract our minds from the peace of faith by temporal cares, he will get an advantage over us.
The preface allowed of expansion, but I have compressed it with stern economy of time. I must condense with equal rigor all through my discourse. We will first expound the text and then enforce it.
I. First, let us EXPOUND THE TEXT—“Casting all your care upon Him, for He caresfor you.”
It is noteworthy that in the Greek, the two words for, “care,” are different. Hence the Revised Version reads, “Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” The care which you are to cast upon God is wearing you out and you are to cast it upon God because, in quite another sense, “He cares for you.” The word used in reference to God is applied to caring for the poor and in another place to the watchfulness of a shepherd. Our anxiety and God’s care are two very different things. His care, though tender and comprehensive, causes no anxiety to Him, for His great mind is more than equal to the task. But our care ferments within us and threatens the destruction of our narrow souls. You are to cast your care, which is folly, upon the Lord, for He exercises a care which is wisdom! Care to us is exhausting, but God is All-Sufficient. Care to us is sinful, but God’s care of us is holy. Care distracts us from service, but the Divine Mind does not forget one thing while remembering another!
If our care is to be cast upon God, we are hereby led to make a distinction, for there is a care which we could not dare to cast upon God—it would be blasphemy to attempt it! Anxiety to grow rich—can we impart that to God? Anxiety to be famous, to live in luxury, to avenge an injury, to magnify myself—can I ask the Most High to bear such an anxiety for me? If any of you are vexed with such care, I charge you to fling it off, for it is like the poisoned tunic of Hercules, and unless you can tear it away, it will burn into your very soul! All cares of covetousness, anger, pride, ambition and willfulness must be cast to the winds—it would be criminal to dream of casting them upon God! Do not pray about them,
except that God will redeem you from them. Let your desires be kept within a narrow circle and your anxieties will be lessened at a stroke.
“Casting, “says the Apostle. He does not say “laying all your care upon Him,” but he uses a much more energetic word. You have to cast the load upon the Lord—the act will require effort. It is no child’s play to cast all our care upon our Lord when there are six little children, shoes worn out, cupboard empty, purse bare and the deacons talking of reducing the scanty salary! Here is a work worthy of faith—you will have to lift with all your soul before the burden can be shifted and the anxiety cast upon the Lord! That effort, however, will not be half as exhausting as the effort of carrying your load yourself. Oh, the burden of watching and waiting for help which never comes! Depending on the help of man who is altogether vanity! Oh, the weariness of carrying a heartbreaking anxiety and yet standing up to preach! We have all seen statues of Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders, but we can hardly conceive of his preaching in that attitude! It would be better to make one tremendous effort and have done with it, rather than groan under a perpetual weight. If the fox is eating into our heart, let us pluck it from our bosom and kill it at once!