2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
May 8, 2013
1 Peter 5:6-7
Let’s take a look at verse 6. In the original language verse 6 is a response to something said in verse 5. The word therefore in verse 6 points back to something said in verse 5. It points back to the phrase that the writer quotes from Proverbs 11 and Proverbs 3. The proverb highlights that God opposes the proud and the self-dependent, the people who think that they don’t need God, but he gives grace or he gives favor to the humble, the one who decided to place their life in His hands and be God-dependent, trusting God for every area of your life. Whereas the proud self-dependent meet resistance, the humble find relief. The writer quotes in verse five that being self-dependent goes against fully trusting in God. Self-dependence puts the faith in self and not God. Whereas the humble person, the person who trust God puts their faith in God. God is telling us that He is not going to let us get away with arrogant independence without His personal opposition. And on the flip side he is not going to ask us to trust him without helping us.
So the writer in verse 6 says Humble yourselves. "Humble yourselves" is not perhaps the best translation of the Greek text. Though this is a command and points to a responsibility to obey and respond to, the verb in the Greek text is in the passive voice and would be better understood as "be humbled" or “allow yourselves to be humbled." Let God teach you that it is best for you to depend on God and not yourself. Let God show you that he is more qualified to handle your mess, your challenges, your trials, and your worries better than you are. One must get to the point where one recognizes that God has proven himself to be more than able to carry our burdens.
He adds the phrase under his mighty hand just to remind the reader that you and l are submitting to someone who has shown himself to be strong. God has a track record of having a mighty hand. And for our discussion we can use that to remind ourselves that God can handle whatever we bring to him because his hands are mighty, they are strong, and they are capable. God’s hands can hold onto what we bring and take care of it. If we bring him something fragile, he can hold it safe and secure. If we bring him something extra-large he has the hands to grip it and the strength to hold on. If we bring him something that is messed up, he has the ability to hold it together. If we bring him something broken he can put it back together again. His hands are skilled, and his hands are mighty. Putting things in his hands will bring comfort, assurance and place you at rest.
The writer also says that his hands are so mighty that they can lift you in due time. Two things to consider: His strength and his timing. He will lift us and in due time. One speaks of his ability and the other speaks of his timing. God is able, but God comes when he feels best. Just when you were about to crumble under the pressure, God is going to lift you. Just when you were about to succumb to the pressure, God is going to lift you. Just when you thought God forgot about you he is going to give you strength to fight on. God is able but God comes when he feels best. That is why we have to learn how to trust him. He watching us and he loves us. He will not let it break you.
So Peter gives us the prescription in verse 7. Cast you cares, cast your anxieties, cast your worries. Casting means to throw up on. The word comes from the term to place on a camel, or an animal that was used to carry heavy loads. Put the weight of it on the burden bearer. Put the load on the burden bearer. That is the response of the humble person to the power of God. If God is so powerful why am I trying to carry what only he can carry? If I know he can handle it why am I worried about it? If I know he can carry it why am I crying about it? If I know he can carry it, why am I losing my mind over it?
The writer says cast all your cares. We are not just given the opportunity to cast some cares, we are given the opportunity to give over every issue. The easy ones and the hard ones. God wants us to give him all of our worries "all your anxiety," the translation, "the whole of your anxiety," drives home the point of the Greek text more forcefully. The emphasis in this passage is not on casting each individual care, but on casting the whole of one’s life on the Lord-lock, stock, and barrel. It’s the idea of coming to a place in life where, realizing the Savior’s complete sufficiency and our insufficiency (we realize that we can’t really handle any part of life apart from the Lord), we then cast the whole of life on Him. We are to give it all to Him not just as our burden bearer, but as our Master, Provider, Trainer, Vinedresser, and heavenly Father, whether we are facing the irritations of a mosquito or the charge of a lion or elephant, the whole of life is to be cast on Him.
But how can we truly do that? What’s the motivation and secret here? This is seen in the final clause of this sentence. The Reason and Motivation "because he cares for you.” The verb, "cares," is in the present continuous tense. It means that he has always cared, is caring right now, and will continue to care for you. That means if he cared for you when you were just a baby, he is caring for you now in your seventies. If he got you through your twenties, he can get you through your forties. If he provided for you last year, he will provide for you this year.
The point of all this is that worry and anxiety is a contradiction to faith in God. See Matthew 6:25-35. In this text, the Lord Jesus reminds us that if God so looks after the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, how much more will He not care for us as our heavenly Father. See also Matthew 11:28-29.
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