I Peter 5:7
I was reading my devotional today and it was on anxiety. The above verse was the one they gave to help with anxiety. I do love this verse (I may even draw a picture to go with the verse some time). How do we give our worries and cares to God; and can he be trusted with them?
I know it's difficult to give them to him. How many times do we hear, "Just give it to God?" Do we even understand what that even means? I mean, as someone on the Spectrum (the Autism Spectrum), I take things very literally. So when someone says something like, "Just give it to God," I'm like, "How do you just 'give' your problems to someone? You can't just hand someone (insert problem here) like you can hand them a gift!" If you're like me and take everything literally, then you probably have a hard time with this saying as well. So what does it really mean?
It's taken me years, over a decade even, trying to figure out what this saying means; so I will try to explain it the best I can.
When I think of the phrase "Give it to God," I think of it as if God is saying, "Go ahead, lay it on me." He wants us to tell him what we're struggling with. Does he already know? Of course! Sometimes we're in such distress that the words can't even be formed. We call this the groaning of the soul. There have been times where I've been so stressed out that I literally can't say anything; sometimes I can't even write the words of what I'm feeling. I just want to scream for help, but the words can't come out. Sometimes I can't even say them in prayer. My soul groans.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26
The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. What a powerful picture! In a strange way, it reminds me of when I had my second suicide attempt. I had oded on sleeping pills, and when the EMTs came to our house, I was really out of it. I was so tired, I couldn't really form words. They would ask me questions trying to keep me awake, and I could only answer yes or no questions with groans. In a very weird way, I think it's similar to how when we're so distressed, we can't even form words to how we're feeling. So the Holy Spirit, the one that Jesus promised us when we turn our lives over to him, groans for us.
Back to the 1 Peter verse. Cast your worries and cares to God. Tell him what's got your troubled. He wants to hear from you. He wants to listen to you. He wants to help you. He wants to comfort you. Even if all you can do is cry, or even just groan, he wants to hear from you. He knows what you're wanting to say, but he loves you so much that he'd rather hear it from you. He wants that relationship with you.
Imagine you've got a kid. You're kid is really troubled about something, and you already know what it is. You know your kid is being bullied at school, and your heart breaks for them. You've seen your kid come home with bruises, but when you ask them how they got their bruises, they say, "Oh I fell." One day, your kid comes home from the school bus and as soon as they walk in the house, you hear them sniffling. You ask them, "What's wrong? Did you have a bad day at school?" All of a sudden, your kid can't hold back the tears anymore. They hold you and tell you, "I'm being bullied at school! I haven't really been getting these bruises from falling - I've been getting them from being beaten up at school; and no one seems to care!" Let me ask you, would you rather hear what's going on from the mouth of your child, or would you not really care? No doubt, you want to do something about it. No good parent wants to see their child suffering, whether it be from bullying or anything else. God, your heavenly Father, wants to hear from you, even though he already knows what's going on.
Just as a good parent cares for their child, God cares about you! He wants to help you with what you're going through. No matter what you've done or may be ashamed of, he still loves you and wants to hear from you.
"You got yourself into this mess, let's get out of this mess together." That's what I imagine him saying to me anyway. Like dealing with these addictions I have. I started them. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I still made the decision to do them, and I make the decision to stay in them. Of course, I'm not making that decision so much as I want to stay in that place. I don't think people really want to stay in their addictions when they know and realize that's where they're at. I think they really do want to change, but we become so dependent on what we are addicted to, we don't really know how to get out of it - at least, that's how it is for me anyway. That's when God says, "You can't get out of this alone, so let's get through this together. Let's get you out of this mess together."
Cast your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you 💖
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