Casting our anxiety on God
One of the most distinctive features of this century is the amount of work and worries people deal with every day. Moreover, as we are living like this, it is normal to experience anxiety at some point of our lives.
However, so far this year, anxiety has leapt even more in almost the entire world population due to the COVID-19 pandemic and because we have had to be confined at home for a long period.
Many people are afraid of the consequences of this pandemic. We are worried about getting sick or finding out that someone we love is suffering or has died from this disease, and we are also worried about the future of our economy.
Given this scenario, we should listen to the apostle Peter when he says, "cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7, NIV).
In this verse, the apostle is not saying that we should not have anxiety or that we will not suffer from it, because he knows that our worries could take control of our lives. Perhaps he vividly recalled the time he almost sunk in the sea in front of Jesus because he let his fear control him.
Peter is also not saying that we should handle anxiety on our own or that we should be invulnerable or unafraid of difficult situations before God.
The text clearly invites us to cast our anxiety on God, to open our hearts before God, because God knows us. However, as an act of faith we must be sincere before God and let God know how we really feel about this or any other situation.
Peter knew that God understands about human suffering, and that God knows the reasons, the dimensions, and the consequences of our anxiety; through Christ, God was among humanity, walking and sharing with people and suffering their pain. Therefore, the apostle invites us to cast our anxiety on God only, because God will take care of us.
We do not know how God will handle our anxiety. We don´t find the answer in this verse. But Peter does not seem to care about that. He knows that the future is in God’s hands, as it was the past and the present.
As many of us, I have also struggled with high levels of anxiety, but I am still learning, like Peter, to take it to the Lord, to leave it at God’s hands and to expect God to take care of me, as God does of each one of you too.
—Jeremías Brafett Jhonson
Pastor of the Dominican Evangelical Church
Director of the Theological Studies Program of the Dominican Evangelical Church
Director of the Emmanuel Evangelical College