1 Peter 5:6, 7 - A Journey with Jesus is Really Living!
1 Peter 5:6, 7 (NLT) So humble yourselves
under the mighty power of God, and at the right
time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all
your worries and cares to God, for he cares about
you.
1 Peter 5:6, 7 (NIV) Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift
you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on
him because he cares for you.
COMMENTARY PEARL
Henri Nouwen confessed that when he met
with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, he started
explaining all his problems as soon as they sat down.
For ten minutes, he tried to convince her how
complicated they were.
When he was finally quiet, Mother Teresa
said, "Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring
your Lord and never do anything you know is wrong
... you will be fine."
Nouwen's response? "I realized, suddenly,
that she had punctured my big balloon of complex
self-complaints and pointed me far beyond myself to the
place of real healing. I had raised a question
from below and she had given an answer from above
- from God's place and not the place of my
complaints. Mother Teresa's answer was like a flash of
lightning in my darkness."
Our setbacks, struggles, doubts, and
insecurities can enmesh us in severe complications. We
want solutions. We want practical answers. A
simple answer "from above" often strikes us as
irrelevant to the problem, as it did at first to Henri
Nouwen. After all, he was an Ivy League professor
and understood the complications of life. Yet
many problems cannot be "solved," and other times
the solution is in our seeing the maze of
difficulties through God's eyes.
Nouwen advises, "Your life, my life, is
given graciously by God. Our lives are not
problems to be solved but journeys to be taken with
Jesus as our friend and finest guide."
Lord Jesus, my need for you to guide me
is greater than ever. My journey seems a
thicket of troubles, with no pathway out. Please
grant me your perspective and your confidence as
you lead me today. Amen [The One Year Book of
Encouragement by Harold Myra]
COMMENTARY
As youve no doubt discovered, becoming
a Christian does not make your problems go
away. But it does give you an Advocate to whom you
can take every concern. The Christians Peter
addressed were facing persecution. They did not know
whom they could trust; a friend, a neighbor, or
even a family member could betray them, resulting
in suffering and even death. But Peter had
walked with the risen Christ, and he had personally
experienced the love that Jesus had for His followers.
He knew that Christ was in control, capable of
handling every trial and that He wanted to do so as
an expression of His love.
Casting our cares is a choice. It means
consciously handing over our anxiety to Christ and
allowing Him to carry the weight of our problems. At
times this is the most difficult part of trusting
God! We dont like turning over the
responsibility for our problems. We have been taught that
self-reliance is good and praiseworthy. We may even enjoy
worrying. Yet if we are to be freed from the burden of
our concerns, we must choose to cast them into
the strong hands of our Father.
Peter does not distinguish between little
cares and big cares. God does not differentiate
between problems we should handle on our own and
God-sized needs. He asks us to turn them all over to
Him. One of our greatest errors is to assume we
can deal with something ourselves, only to
discover that we really cant.
God sees you as His frail child, burdened
with a load that surpasses your strength. He
stands prepared to take your load and to carry it
for you. Will you let Him? [Experiencing God Day
by Day by Henry and Richard Blackaby]
Worry is rooted in pride
Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair,
giving you something to do, but never taking you
anywhere. Like a hamster in a cage, you go round and
round with a lot of activity and anxiety, but
never making progress. There is a healthy fear
that gets us out of danger. But there is also an
unhealthy fear, which leads us into anxiety, which is
a lingering, constant fear that paralyzes us.
If fear is a thunderstorm, Tim Keller
says, anxiety is a constant cold drizzle. And why
are we like that? Sometimes it could be a
medical problem, but usually it is pride and
self-sufficiency. Constant worry is rooted in arrogance
that assumes, I know the way my life has to go,
and Gods not getting it right.
The main verb in 1 Pet. 5 (a command) is
to humble yourselves. Whenever there is a
verb followed by a participle, (which means it
ends in ing), the author is telling you how
to accomplish the command. So here he says the
way to humble yourself is by praying your
anxieties. In other words, dont try to vent your
worries to people or suppress them and carry them on
your own, but pray them.
So if it is a sign of humility to cast
all of our cares on the Lord, it is conversely a
sign of pride when you worry. Worry denies the
care of a sovereign God. One author writes,
Worry is sin because it denies the wisdom of God;
it says that He doesnt know what Hes
doing. It denies the love of God; it says He does
not care. And it denies the power of God; it
says that He isnt able to deliver me from
whatever is causing me to worry. Worry is
practical atheism. Worry gives you delusions of
strength and keeps God from working on your behalf.
Worship and worry cannot stay in the same
heart.
The gospel of Christ says that Christ has
carried our ultimate troublepaying for our
sinsso we can now carry our smaller anxieties to
Him. If He went that far to show us His care and
love for us, will He not care for us in every
other way?
http://www.onelivinghope.com/worry-is-rooted-in-pride/
St. Augustine once said (later expounded by
Luther) that our major dilemma is that our self is
turned in on itself. Apart from grace, we are,
as CS Lewis says, not creatures who need
improvement, but rebels who need to lay down his arms.
Our self-sufficiency causes us to be prayerless,
independent, living worry-filled lives. Yet Gods grace
comes to the self-sufficient, like to Jacob in
Gen. 32. In an amazing wrestling match, God
becomes weak, takes His weight off and loses, to let
Jacob win. This leaves him with a limp to always
remind him of the scars of grace. Ultimately, on
the cross, God became weak, so He can win over
our self-sufficiency. Jesus got the full weight
of Gods wrath and justice, crushed
underneath, so we just get the blows of grace that leave
us no longer with a swag or a strut, but
with a perpetual limp.
http://www.onelivinghope.com/2012/07/
ONE LINERS
Through conflict the spiritual life is
strengthened. Trials well borne will develop steadfastness
of character and precious spiritual graces. The
perfect fruit of faith, meekness, and love often
matures best amid storm clouds and darkness. {COL
61.1}
The brook would lose its song if the rocks
were removed. [Your Daily Walk SB]
There are no roses without thorns, nor
victories without battles. [Daily Walk Bible]
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE
1 Peter 5:5b-7 - Humility and Prayer.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2013/20131127-1613.html
1 Peter 5:7 - Winning Over Worry.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200508-1442.html
1 Peter 5:5, 6 - Seeking Humility and
Ignoring Pride.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200402-1128.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
Importance of Choice:
http://creationhealth.com/CREATION-Health/Choice [click on video]
Medical Seminar on Healthful Living by David
DeRose, MD, MPH:
https://www.smartlifestyletv.com/lifestart
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Hope Awakens Bible Study Guides:
https://www.hopeawakens.study/lesson-header;id=2
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
Revelation Now by Pastor Doug Batchelor:
https://www.revelationnow.com/
Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of
Adventist World Radio (recent):
https://bible.awr.org/en/the-signs/
Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW:
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
