Worry Catch

Read

1 Peter 5:6–7 NIV "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."

What it is speaking to me:

I came to the game of catch late in life. We weren't a big baseball family growing up. I played a lot of football, soccer, and basketball, but not baseball. I never really owned a glove or learned to throw a baseball correctly.

It wasn't until college that I started tossing a ball with a buddy of mine. He had two well-worn gloves, and we would play catch between classes in front of the music building. There was something simple and calming about catching a ball and throwing it away to my friend.

I think about throwing that ball when I read this verse about casting our cares. That word describes tossing something away from you. Getting rid of it. We aren't meant to hold on to our worries and our anxieties. There is more and more psychological and scientific evidence catching up to this very fact: it is hard on humanity to carry its cares, because we were never meant to. We were meant to toss them to God. Not just some of them. All of them. And we aren't meant to pick them back up. To truly cast something is to trust the One catching it more than you trust yourself to manage it.

I love that the verse concludes with this cherished truth, the reason why. Peter doesn't write "Cast your worries because God is sovereign" (He is!) or "because He has a plan" (He does!). He says to do it simply because He cares for us. That's it.

So go ahead. Throw them away. He cares for you.

What is it saying to you?

• What worry have you been holding on to?

• Why have you held on to it?

• Ask yourself why you really NEED to hold on to it.

  
  

What are we going to do about it?

Write down a persistent worry and intentionally "cast" it in prayer to God, and then cast the paper into a trash can.