“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Hi everyone. Happy Friday to you. I am wondering where you are today, let me tell you where I’m at today, I’m on the move as I get a chance to leave St. Louis and head back to Chicago, after spending a fantastic few days with our Disaster Response Ministry for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. And spending a great amount of conversation and fellowship with some of our folks throughout our entire church body who are known as our DDRC’s, our District Disaster Response Coordinators, as well as those LERT trained folks who have gone through the training of Lutheran Early Response Training and gathered together for a special conference of encouragement, sharing, learning, and it’s been great. LCC was here, I was here with Deaconess, Kathy O’Day, and we had a wonderful time, again, learning about the opportunities as the Lord has given to us, to respond to people in trauma.

As you go into this weekend, I want to think a little bit about that, about crisis and disaster and trauma. I was reflecting on this question during this conference and I want you to consider the question as well: what has been the most meaningful moment for you when facing a crisis? What helped you to get through that crisis? I have a crisis in mind that happened while I was in college, and it wasn’t the worst of cases, in fact, I look back now and to be honest with you, I almost wish that I had that kind of trouble still in my life because I’ve moved well past that, but at the time, it was a big deal for me. I was far away from home. I was at college, I was alone and things were not going my way. And I just felt like I needed to know, “God, are you still there? Do you still care?” And I did one of those things that pastors probably don’t recommend you do, but I did, I just said, “God, I need to hear from you right now. Are you still there? And I threw my Bible open onto my bed in front of me, and it literally fell open to 1 Peter, and out of all of the passages on that page, those two pages that sat before me open, I looked and I saw 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

I couldn’t believe it. I got to tell you that I had never read that verse before, but that was exactly what I needed to know, in that moment of crisis, at that time. That God was aware of my situation, He knew where I was, and that He cared for me. I must have read that verse for 20 minutes, it felt like – just over and over and over again and with tears streaming down my face, just thanking the Lord for His attention and His involvement in my life that He would care for me and that He would assure me that He is with me.

Well, that’s not just about me. It’s about you. Because the Lord loves all He has created and is seeking after all He has created longing for all that He has created to come back to Him. And so whatever you might be facing, I pray that you would hear those words from 1 Peter 5:7 to be your own. Cast all your anxiety on Jesus because He cares for you. I pray that you have a great weekend, going in the confidence of the Lord’s presence with you, knowing that He goes with you today. And so let’s join together in a word of prayer as we head into this weekend.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the blessing of life itself. We do recognize that the chance that we have to enjoy another day is a blessing and it is a gift from You, and we thank You for that. But we also recognize, Lord, that this is a fallen world we live in, that we as sinful creatures, we experience a lot of pain. Sometimes it’s from the things that we ourselves are responsible for, and other times, it’s just the brokenness and the fallen-ness of this world, and through that Lord, sometimes we wonder if You’ve maybe lost track of us, or maybe You’re not aware of what we’re going through, but we thank You so much for Your word. For Your word reassures us in this moment that You are absolutely tuned in to what is going on here in this world, and most importantly for us, especially in moments of pain and suffering, You are right there in the midst of it, aware and willing to be with us. You haven’t abandoned us, You won’t leave us, and You will not forsake us.

In fact, You go even further and You shared with us in Your word today, that You invite us to care, to bring all those cares, all those anxieties, to You because You care for us. And so we thank You for that. Go with us this weekend and may we serve You with joy and with confidence, as we continue to experience the blessing that You’ve given to us this weekend. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.