“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.”
Psalms 55:22-23 NIV
Peter in his first epistle cites Psalm 55 and calls our cares anxiety.
Cast your anxiety on God and he will sustain you…
If we truly took this verse and allowed it to have influence in our lives, I think we would see God move so much more in clearly. We all have anxiety. Some of us call it worry or stress, but no one in our busy, chaotic, Western world is free of anxiety.
Bills… Work… Kids…
All of us have anxiety and worries to deal with.
The words of the Psalmist were powerful thousands of years ago. How much more powerful are they today, anxiety and mental illness are reshaping our world. In a country where 1 out of every 5 people have dealt with a mental health issue this year, this verse carries hope that little else in this world can offer. [Read more about American mental illness here.]
I hope you take the Psalmist seriously and put action to his words. He can sustain us. He can cover our needs. He can keep us safe.
There is one thing we do need to pay heed to…
As much as the Psalmist trusts God to sustain the righteous, he also trusts God to being down the wicked. Our world does not like hearing people talk about God like this. As nice as it would be to believe that Jesus or the God of the Bible loves everyone enough to vindicate them regardless of their actions in this life, it’s clear that there is a divine standard by which God decides whether to sustain or destroy someone.
This is why the Psalmist speaks out. You may want to read chapter 55 completely to see his full thought. The Psalmist sees the divide in the world. He sees the way evil destroys all things. He sees the hurt we all cause, and we all receive.
That is why he calls on the YHWH. Only he is able to take our pain and heal it. Only YHWH can take our worry and sustain us with life.
Find peace in the words of Psalm 55… YHWH will sustain those who cast their worry onto him.