Reframing AnxietySample

Day 6: Casting Your Anxieties

In 1 Peter 5:6‑7, we are invited to cast our anxiety on God. In the NIV translation, we see the word anxiety used. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” In the CSB translation, the word cares is used: “Casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.”

While meditating on this verse one day and focusing on the verb cast, my mind turned to a memory of watching fly fishing when I was in Colorado. Instead of simply casting the fishing line into the water and waiting, the fly fisherman casts and pulls back, casts and pulls back, repeatedly. I imagined myself casting my cares to God and then pulling them back to myself. I know that I sometimes do this of my own will. But much of the time, it’s like those pesky worries are chasing me like a determined bee disrupting my peace while I sit on the back porch. But then I realized something. The fisherman keeps casting over and over. I can do the same. Do the worries come back? Cast again. And again.

I share this passage with you, knowing that casting our anxieties is easier said than done. There are many possible reasons for the challenge:

• Perhaps an underlying trauma may be coming up for you.
• You are building new pathways and making new connections in your brain, which takes time.
• By worrying, you might feel you are somehow controlling the situation.
• Your brain might be communicating that there is a problem, or a portion of a problem, that you need to address with practical solutions.
• You might have difficulty casting your anxiety because you don’t have practical how‑to strategies.

What is the context and source of worry/anxiety in this passage? First Peter was written to encourage believers facing suffering for their faith.* New Testament professor Karen Jobes describes their plight.

Many anxieties result from professing faith in Christ in a polytheistic society that is hostile to the exclusive claims of the gospel. The loss of status and respect, loss of family standing, loss of friends, perhaps even loss of one’s livelihood and, in extreme cases, of one’s life—these are real possibilities for the Christians of Asia Minor.**

Once again, we see many serious stressors these people are facing. It makes sense that they are concerned about their future. Let’s read what they were encouraged to do in the face of these stressors, and what we are invited to do.

Humble yourself. (1 Peter 5:6) Peter notes the result of humbling is “so that he may exalt you at the proper time.” Humbling ourselves before God indicates we entrust ourselves “to a faithful Creator” (4:19) who is greater than us. We are invited to humbly place our faith in God.

Cast all your anxiety (or cares) on him. (verse 6)—In the Word Biblical Commentary, we see the translation: “All your anxiety you may throw on him, for he cares about you.”*** This language is strong and active. We are invited to throw our cares on God.

If you continue reading verses 8 and 9, readers are also told to be sober‑minded, alert, resist the devil, and hold firm in their faith. They are reminded they are not alone in their suffering and that other believers face a similar fate. If you are struggling right now, remember that you are not alone. Suffering and anxiety are part of the human experience of life in a fallen world.

References

*Craig S. Keener, 1 Peter: A Commentary (Baker Academic, 2021), 38.

**Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter (Baker Academic, 2022), 311.

***Michaels, J. Ramsey, I Peter, vol. 49, Word Biblical Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 292, emphasis added.