"casting all your anxieties on Him, because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7  

There is a saying: "God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good." This statement is both encouraging and true, but has it been so overstated that it has lost its profoundness? Maybe.

When I think about the goodness of God through the lens I've been taught, I view His goodness as consistent and never ceasing, an expression of His omnipotence and power. Through every mountain top and every valley, He is good. This belief has certainly been a rock to lean on, but it has also sometimes made God feel distant through no fault but my own. Because I know God is good and will do what He wills, I have had seasons or moments when I have neglected to ask for His help, merely acknowledging that He will make the right decision whether I ask or not. A right thought to have, but it did not produce the right action.

Recently, instead, I’ve been dwelling on another attribute of God: His kindness. Not only is God good, making the right decisions for our lives, but He is also kind and generous. He wants to know the desires of our hearts and to carry our burdens. He desires to handle us with care. Sometimes, this means we walk through seasons of pain and struggle for our growth and endurance, but it also means that God is not only capable of delivering us from pain; He also desires to do so. Just like a father who, when his child asks for bread, won't give him a serpent, our Father in heaven seeks to give kindly to those who ask and trust Him. (Matthew 7:9-11)

Casting your anxieties on God is not a promise that He will fix or take them away. It’s a promise that He will care about them and care for you. Think of a mother binding and tending the wounds of her children. Maybe our wounds won’t always be healed in a moment (although sometimes they will), but through His tender care, we will certainly be comforted and carried through pain. He will carry them for us because He cares for us. He is trustworthy to know how to “handle with care.”

After a little while of suffering, Jesus will support, restore, and strengthen you. (1 Peter 5:10) He is a firm foundation, more than we could think to ask for. This is what we, who are suffering or struggling, desire and hope for. The weary and anxious feel alone (they get supported), broken (they are restored by Christ), and weak (they are strengthened). Jesus promises to completely and utterly heal us and bring us to a place where He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and where death will be no more. Until this day, He remains good through all things and remains kind as He desires good things for His children. Whether through miraculous restoration, immediate deliverance, provisions through the desert, or the binding and mending of our wounds, He will sustain us, be with us, and carry us. 

Take all your worries and give them to the One who cares for you.