Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalms 55:22 (NIV)
God desires for His children to be burden casters – casting their problems on His all powerful shoulders. Our shoulders were never made to bear the heaviness of the day’s burdens. King David expresses in our verse for today his confidence that God would never forsake the righteous. Peter tells us likewise in 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV): “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” All of our anxieties are to be cast upon Him. Christ is concerned about our welfare – He remembers that we are but dust. Our confidence rests in His love for us and not in our own weak abilities. We can trust Him with our lives and with the lives of all we hold near and dear. Moses also writes in Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV): “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
If our cares are carried to excess, when fretting and murmuring begin to occur, we have neglected casting our burdens upon Him (or we have taken them back!). Our fretting fails to accomplish anything – except perhaps an ulcer. The essence of all our worry and anxious living is that either we imagine we are wiser than God or that He does not care about our circumstances and we thrust ourselves into His place – that which He has undertaken to do for us. We place that heavy burden upon our backs which are not at all equipped to carry them as if God were unable or unwilling to carry it for us. This is turning to human wisdom, strength and abilities over God’s wisdom, strength and abilities. And God says, “Cast it on me.” I can handle all your problems. Nothing is too hard for Me. Nothing.
The Psalmist Asaph rightly states in Psalms 73:21-26 (NIV): “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Our God is a sufficient portion. Those who trust in Him lack no good thing. He desires for us to cast our burdens on Him because He cares for us. He is our refuge and strength - our very present help in our times of troubles. He is a God that never leaves us nor forsakes us. With Him we will not be shaken.
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah Psalms 62:5-8 (NIV)