March 9, God cares for you.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

1. Peter 5, 6 and 7.

Why is anxiety about the future a form of pride? God's answer would sound something like this, paraphrasing Isaiah 51, 12. I, the Lord your maker, I am he who comforts you, who promises to take care of you. And those who threaten

you are mere men who die. So your fear must mean that you do not trust me. And even though

you are not sure that your own resources will take care

of you, yet you opt for fragile self-reliance rather than faith in my future grace.

So all your trembling, weak as it is, reveals pride.

The remedy?

Turn from self-reliance to God reliance and put your faith in the all-sufficient

power of the promise of his future grace. You can see that anxiety is a form of pride in 1st

Peter 5, 6 and 7. Notice the grammatical connection between the verses.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

Now, verse 7.

Casting all your anxieties on him.

Verse 7 is not a new sentence.

It's a subordinate clause.

It starts with a participle

yourselves by casting all your anxieties on Him. This means that casting your

anxieties on God is a way of humbling yourself under God's mighty hand. It's

like saying, eat politely, chewing with your mouth shut,

...