Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:6-11
Some of these verses I have referred to often. But again - looking further...digging deeper- we find more important information that help us along our journey through life.
First we are going to look at what "humble yourselves" mean:
Humble yourselves= It means to accept suffering - when this is the result of being faith to God - as part of God's will. This is not an unwilling resignation to His will but casting all our cares upon Him knowing that He cares for us. It is self-forgetfulness based on trust (Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:25-33; Phil. 4:6). This is important, lest the seed of the gospel chokes in our lives (Mark 4:19).
"Cast" means to literally throw or fling something - like of like when your fishing and you cast your line out. Now let's look at a few verses that focus on the "casting all your cares upon Him":
Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalms 55:22
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:25-33
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Philippians 4:6
and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Mark 4:19
Be sober, be vigilant= A call to have a clear mind. Christians should recognize that behind their sufferings stands Satan trying to prey on them. The lion roars to scatter the sheep in panic and prey on them. Clear-minded sheep will stay calm and come close to their shepherd, trusting His protection.
Resist him= Resistance takes the form of standing firm in faith, In the end, however, even that resistance is powered by God (5:10).
***All italicized texts are from my Andrews Study Bible. ***
In this life we will have troubles, but we can cast our cares upon God. And we can trust God to:
perfect us
establish us
strengthen us
settle us
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