Bringing Our Concerns to the Lord

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

(1 Peter 5:6 ESV)

Most of us take for granted our ability to approach God in prayer. We continually bring to him our requests without thinking twice about it. But, that being said, few of us approach him rightly. Our tendency is to approach him in ways that downplay our dependence on him, that exalt us, or that lower him before us.

Quite often, we approach God in a spirit of arrogance. We treat him like a Genie, who is bound to grant our every wish. We treat him like a Santa Claus in the sky, expecting that he’ll give to us each and every thing for which we ask.

We also come to him believing that we deserve the blessings for which we ask. In fact, we come to him believing it would be wrong of him to deny our request. And, for this reason, any unmet request is understood as a failure on the part of God.

We often approach God as an equal, attempting to bargain with him. We ask him to give to us something we need and cannot provide for ourselves. And, in return, we offer to provide for him something he cannot acquire on his own.

We come to God, insisting that he demonstrate his love for us by granting our requests. However, in times when we don’t perceive a need, or once our needs have been met, we completely disregard him. We demonstrate no love for him whatsoever.

However, as we see in the above passage, we are to approach God humbly. But not only is this the case. We’re encouraged to bring to him our requests for no other reason than the fact that he cares for us.

Jesus, in Matthew 7, compares God to a loving Father who longs to give good gifts to his children. He longs to provide for them the things that they need. He doesn’t need to be convinced. He doesn’t require anything in return. And he’s willing to do so despite the fact that we’re undeserving.

In this knowledge, in this faith, we should approach God in prayer. We should cast all of our anxieties upon him trusting in the fact that he cares for us. We should cast our cares upon him knowing that, out of his Fatherly affection, he’ll graciously meet our needs.