As I sat and worshiped, thinking of the prayers that I have yet to see answered, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Cast your cares.” And immediately, my mind went to the scripture in 1 Peter 5, that tells us to cast our cares upon the Lord.
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (I Peter 5:7 NKJV)
And then I opened up the word. Because I know this scripture, but until now, I've always thought it meant that I should bring my cares to God, because He cares about me. And I love that interpretation. I love the revelation that my heavenly Father cares. He cares about where I am right now. He cares about every tear that I have ever cried. In the moments that I am down, He cares about me. And He cares to see me happy. He wants what is best for me. But as I sat, and searched scripture for this particular verse, I came across a similar verse. One that, for me, gives a deeper revelation of what Peter was writing.
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. (Psalms 55:22 NLT)
Reading this Psalm, written by King David, opened my eyes to the fact that we should cast our cares upon the Lord, not only because He cares about us, but because He takes care of us. He isn’t a distant Father that only looks on us with compassion, but He cares for our every need. This revelations changes everything. Because when we understand the fact that He desires to take care of us, we will begin to take everything to Him.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)
This is an exchange. We give every care to God because He takes care of our every need. And in exchange, He gives us His peace, while we wait on Him.
And as I sat, thinking of how much my Father cares for me, I began to think of the journey that we go through as we wait on Him. We go through these cycles of being so full of faith, and walking on water. And in the next moment, we are sinking, wondering if we ever heard His call in the first place. I’ve looked around at my circumstances and thought, what am I doing here, in this place. A barren place.
We’ve all been there. The place where we aren't feeling cared for. The place where we cry out, “Father, I thought you were with me. I thought you called me here. Where are you now. I can’t feel you near. You are no where to be found. Do you even care?”
How can we be in the place that God led us to, and feel alone? How does obedience result in fear, despair, and hopelessness?
As I think about the life of David. The shepherd that became one of the greatest kings of Israel, I realize that he too, found himself in this place. Usually when King David is referenced, we hear of His triumphs. We hear of how this shepherd killed the great warrior, Goliath. We hear the He was a man after God’s own heart. We hear about his many victories in battle. And we hear that he was successful in all he did because God was with him.
But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Samuel 13:14 NLT)
David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. (1 Samuel 18:14 NLT)
We read about the quests of David in the books of Samuel and the Chronicles, where we get a glimpse into his struggles and his trumps. And from afar, he seems so strong, the man that, regardless of his circumstances, trusted in God… his deliverer, his savior. But when we read the book of Psalms, we get a deeper look into his struggle. As he desperately cries out to the Lord. As he pleas for God to rescue him.
I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies. Go away, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord will answer my prayer. May all my enemies be disgraced and terrified. May they suddenly turn back in shame. (Psalms 6:6-10 NLT)
And this is important for us to take in. Because, from the outside looking in, David seems to have it made. He is chosen by God to be king. He is the famous warrior of his time. He is living the dream; he has a blessed life. But, this isn't always how David felt. Regardless of his accolades, David went through seasons of drought. He went through seasons where he wondered if his prayers were heard by God. He too, had to wait on God, to come through for him.
O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble? (Psalms 10:1 NLT)
O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die. (Psalms 13:1-3 NLT)
O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. (Psalms 5:1-3 NLT)
But David also had a confidence in God. That his God would come through for him. And he didn’t get that confidence from his current situation, he drew it from a place of remembrance, of all the times that God rescued him in the past. The time God delivered Goliath into his hands. The times that God saved him from King Saul’s attempts to kill him. David remembered every time that he was favored and given victory by God. He remembered that God was faithful to rescue him before, so he reasoned that He would be faithful to rescue him again.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall. But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. (Psalms 13:4-6 NLT)
I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. (Psalms 16:7-8 NLT)
These psalms are a model for us. David shows us how to cast our cares upon the Lord. His writings show us that we can take everything to our heavenly Father. We can cry in His arms. We can tell Him when we feel let down. Our God is not afraid of our feelings of disappointment and grief. He only wants us to bring it to Him, so that He can do something about it.
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” (Psalms 27:8 NLT)
But David also shows us how to praise God in the barren place.
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love. (Psalms 5:11-12 NLT)
Don’t wait until you are on the mountain top to praise God. Praise Him now. In the middle of the storm.
I once heard a pastor say that praising God after the miracle is gratitude, but praising God before the miracle is faith. And this is what we need… we need faith.
When we cast our cares upon Him, we can bask in the fullness of His presence. Because it is in those moments that we get a deeper revelation of just how great He is. When we experience His peace that surpasses all understanding, we find out that all we need is Him, with us. We realize that we can be full of His Spirit. And what everyone else adds to our lives, is just the overflow.
The presence of God is enough.
It is in these dry, barren seasons, when we aren’t receiving what we need externally, that we can receive from the fountain of life from within.
David wrote about this fountain.
You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. (Psalms 36:8-9 NLT)
And Jesus spoke of this fountain when He met with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NLT)
We need the fullness of the presence of God. We need to tap into this fountain of living water.
When we are grieving, the first thing we do is run to those closest to us. We seek their comfort, advice, and care. We seek their compassion, but we are often still left feeling empty. Maybe we feel like no one understands, or they aren’t there the way we need them to be. Or maybe in seeking their comfort, they’ve spoken words that only leave us feeling worse. They’ve tried to encourage us the best they could, but it wasn’t what we wanted or needed to hear. But our God knows exactly what we need to hear, and He knows exactly how to speak to us. He knows how to comfort us, because that is who He is. He is our helper, and sustainer. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can be the fountain of life that we are seeking. In our grief, we are seeking wholeness, affirmation, and hope, and no person can be that for us. But the Holy Spirit is that for us. And He is always present. This is His job. This is why He was sent to us.
But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. (John 14:26 AMP)
When we are at our low, in that barren place, when we’ve forgotten who our God is, the Holy Spirit reminds us. He reminds us of what the word of God says. He reminds us of all the words that were spoken to us, and over us. He reminds us of all the times that God has been faithful in the past. Because in those times, all we see is despair. Our nearsightedness only sees those things that are right in front of us. We see our situation. We see that nothing has changed. And we feel like things will never change. But the Holy Spirit has a different view than we do. He is one with the Father and the Son. And He only Speaks those things that He has heard from heaven.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. (John 16:13-14 NLT)
So when we need encouragement, He’s who we need. He can encourage us from a place of all-knowing. He knows the end from the beginning. So even when we don’t see how we can get though the situation, He tells us that He has already made a way for us. He tells us that this is just a moment in time. We won’t be where we are for long, and when we look back, we will be astonished at how He brought us through the situation. This is His specialty, carrying us. He strengthens us so that we don’t give up.
King David was not a man after God’s own heart because he was perfect, and he got it right all the time. But he knew that his strength was found in dwelling in the presence of God.
The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. (Psalms 27:4 NLT)
This is all we need, to remind ourselves that the presence of God changes things. When we meditate on who He is, we are strengthened from within. And this strength is not the kind that is tossed with the wind.
He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping. (Psalms 18:33-36 NLT)
When we are filled with His strength, we can do the impossible. We can strike down giants because we are not alone. We can walk through valleys, knowing that He is with us. And in those times, His Spirit reminds us that as long as He is with us, it isn’t over yet. Because He promises that our future will always be greater than our past. His plans are always for our good.
When we are feeling empty, it is just an indication that He’s not done with us yet.
It just means that we are in the place where He can fill us. When we are weak, His presence becomes stronger in our lives. So right now, draw on His strength. Like David, remind yourself of all the times that He has kept you. Remind yourself that He has already won the victory for you. And then praise Him for those things. Praise Him because He's never left your side. Praise Him for every time He brought you through an impossible situation. Praise Him for every good thing in your life. But don’t stop there. Praise Him for those blessings that are still to come. Praise Him for answering the prayers that you are still praying now. Praise Him for the miracle that you are still waiting on. Praise Him because it is already done. And then rest in His presence. Allow Him to pour His spirit into you. Allow Him to revive you and strengthen you, while you wait on Him. Because He hasn’t left you, and He never will.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for never leaving my side, and for reminding me that you want to hear from me. You want to hear about my fears and disappointments. You want me to come to you in the moments when I am in distress, so that you can build me up. I ask that you give me a fresh filling of your Holy Spirit. When I loose heart, remind me that I have a fountain of life, living within me. Revive me Holy Spirit. Remind me of who You are, and that you are always with me. Remind me that you fight for me, and that your plans for me are on the horizon. Right now, I praise you for your grace. Thank you for everything good in my life. Thank you for every victory, and for every time you enabled me to walk in blessing. And I praise you for what you are doing right now in me. Thank you for what is still to come, for those things that you have already provided for me. Thank you for leading me and guiding me. Thank you for being my never-ending source of peace, and my place of safety. You are my refuge. And as long as you are with me, I will live in victory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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