By: Kenneth Hagin Jr.
Does God really care about me? That is a question that has coursed through the mind of each one of us at one time or another in life.
Some believers think that in order to be a faith “giant,” they can’t acknowledge that from time to time they experience negative feelings such as this. But at some point, everyone experiences negative feelings because of the pressures and trials of life; no one is exempt.
Many Christians refuse to acknowledge problems in their lives. But ignoring problems and negative feelings doesn’t make them go away. A person has to recognize a problem before he or she can solve it or receive an answer from God.
Many Christians don’t go to God with their problems because they are uncertain of His love and concern for them. They are not convinced in their own hearts that God really cares. Some Christians act as if God made all of creation, including mankind, and then just abandoned them while He went away on vacation!
But that is not what the Word says. God cares about each one of His children.
1 PETER 5:7
7) Casting all your care upon him; FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU.
1 PETER 5:7 (Amplified)
7) Casting the whole of your care – all your ANXIETIES, all your WORRIES, all your CONCERNS, once and for all – on Him; for He cares FOR YOU AFFECTIONATELY, and cares ABOUT YOU WATCHFULLY.
Another translation of First Peter 5:7 says, “God makes you His charge.” That means He makes you His responsibility!
If someone is in your charge, it means you are responsible for caring for that person and attending to his or her needs. If you’ve ever raised a child, for example, you know firsthand what it means to have charge of and attend to the needs of another person. Your child has been entrusted to your care, and you are responsible to watchfully care for him, nurturing and protecting him from harm.
For example, parents would never purposely let their toddler run into the middle of the street to play, where the child could be struck by an automobile. Parents are responsible for the welfare of their children – for providing a peaceful, secure environment and ensuring a safe and happy childhood for them.
How much more does our Heavenly Father care about His children! God watchfully cares for us as we walk with Him. Yet too many times we hinder Him from providing what we need by disobeying His Word and by worrying and fretting.
If you are in God’s charge – if you have cast your cares on Him – then He has the responsibility to attend to your needs according to His Word. But He doesn’t have that responsibility if you don’t give it to Him by casting all your cares on Him. In other words, if you don’t give Him all your anxieties and worries, He can’t work on your behalf like He wants to, because you aren’t trusting Him.
God loves each of us with a love that can’t be rivaled or matched. And He cares for us as no one else can. Another translation of First Peter 5:7 says, “You are God’s personal concern.”
Think what it would be like to be chosen out of a large classroom of students to be taught by your teacher one-on-one. The teacher would personally train and tutor you as his protege or prized pupil.
You would feel pretty special, wouldn’t you? Well, imagine God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, saying to each one of us, “I will personally take care of you if you will trust Me. I have chosen you. You are My personal concern.”
Some people ask, “If God cares about me so much, why can’t I feel His concern for me? Why don’t I have any peace in my life?” But the reason many people don’t experience the benefits of God’s love and concern for them is that they don’t do what the Word says to do.
Notice First Peter 5:7 says, “he [God] careth for you.” That is a settled fact. God does care. But the first part of that verse says, “CASTING all your care upon him…” That means you have to do something first before you can receive your answer from God. You have to cast all your cares on the Lord!
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m ready to give up! I just can’t take it anymore.” I always ask people who say this, “What are you doing with ‘it’ to begin with? In other words, why are you trying to carry the burden of your care?”
I don’t say this to condemn people. I say it because God doesn’t want us burdened with the cares of this world and the trials of life. He wants us to cast our cares on Him.
I’m not saying it will always be easy to cast your cares on the Lord. When you give God your problems, the enemy will try to persist in bringing negative thoughts of worry and anxiety to your mind, telling you that
you’re not going to make it by trusting the Lord.
And if let your mind dwell on the enemy’s lies, you will begin to take back the cares you had given to God. Once that happens, the Lord is hindered from helping you like He wants to because you’re not cooperating with Him by obeying His Word.
God won’t force you to cast your cares on Him. No, casting your cares on the Lord is something you must choose to do by an act of your will. You can either cast your burdens on the Lord or you can carry those burdens yourself, it doesn’t mean you’re born again and Heaven-bound; but it does mean you’re not taking advantage of the benefits that belong to you in Christ.
A good indicator that a person is walking free from cares is the peace of God that is reflected in the person’s life. The person who is trusting God to take care of his or her problems walks in the quiet assurance that those problems are in God’s hands and that He will solve them.
By the way of illustration, suppose you made a request at a place of business, and the owner told you, “I will personally take care of it for you.” You’d walk away from that place confident and carefree concerning
your request. Why? Because the owner told you, “I will personally take care of it for you,” and you had the assurance that he would keep his word.
That’s a good feeling, isn’t it? Well, in the same way, you can make your requests known to God according to His Word and cast all your cares on Him. Then you can go your way rejoicing, because you have God’s promise that He will personally take care of it for you.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6,7
6) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
PSALM 37:5
5) Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
We are to pray about situations and needs in our lives and then commit them all to God. Once we pray, believing by faith we have the answer, we will receive the peace of God that passes understanding.
However, when the answer to prayer doesn’t come quickly, some Christians begin trying to figure out how God is going to take care of the situation, or they try to work it out themselves. Before long, they lose the peace of God they once had – the quiet assurance that despite the circumstances, God had heard and answered their prayer. And they become burdened again with anxiety and worry.
But notice the Amplified Translation of First Peter 5:7 says, “Casting the whole of your care – all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, ONCE AND FOR ALL – on Him….”
As I said, casting your cares on the Lord is something you do. God can’t do it for you, and someone else can’t do it for you either.
Let me give you a practical example of what it’s like to cast your burdens on the Lord. When I was in the U.S. Army, our company had to wear heavy backpacks during most of our marching drills. You talk about a burden! Those backpacks were heavy and big! And, after wearing that backpack all morning and much of the afternoon practicing marching drills, it became quite a burden to me!
When I returned to the barracks each day after the drills, it felt so good to fling the weight of my backpack off of me into the corner of the barracks. When I took off that backpack, my burden was lifted. And I wasn’t
about to pick it up again before drills the next morning!
Similarly, we are to cast our cares on the Lord. We are to fling them off us and cast them completely onto Him. But unlike picking up my heavy backpack morning after morning, we don’t have to pick up our burdens again once we have cast them on the Lord. No, we are to cast our cares on Him once and for all.
Casting your cares on the Lord pays rich dividends of blessings and benefits. On the other hand, I’ve never seen anxiety and worry produce anything beneficial in a person’s life. For example, have you ever noticed
that when the cares of life weigh heavily upon you, it affects every area of your life?
Anxiety and worry have a way of influencing your every thought, word, attitude, and decision. And if you continue to bear the load of your cares, you can become so overwhelmed that you become despondent and depressed. You can feel like you want to give up and quit.
Anxiety and worry have a detrimental effect on the body, as well as on the mind. Medical science has proven that physical maladies can occur in the body because of anxiety and worry, even when no disease is present.
Often Christians want someone to pray the prayer of faith for them for physical healing when, really, they don’t need healing at all. Certainly, they can receive healing for any symptoms present in their bodies. God is merciful and compassionate and wants His people free of sickness and disease or anything that would steal, kill, or destroy (John 10:10). But in order to stay healed, many times the cause of people’s physical symptoms must be dealt with.
For instance, if you’re under stress and you’re experiencing physical problems because you’re trying to shoulder the load of your cares, you need to cast those cares on the Lord. Otherwise, no matter how many times you received healing, the physical problem will continue to return.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by taking thought (or by worrying) can add one cubit unto his stature?” In other words, worry and anxiety don’t solve anything.
In fact, if there were anything you could do to solve all your problems, you would have already done it! But that’s where faith comes in. When you face problems, you need to trust God in faith to honor His Word and keep His promise to take care of you and meet your need.
God loves us and cares about us watchfully. We are His personal concern. But in order to receive the full benefit of His loving care, you must believe in your heart that what the Bible says about God’s love and care is true for you.
Many people believe that God is love, all right. And it’s true; God is love (1 John 4:8). Many also believe that God loves humanity. But when they ask themselves, Does God really love and care about me? they are unsure in their heart of the answer. Why? Because they haven’t taken the time to deeply meditate on God’s Word on the subject until the knowledge of God’s love and concern became real to them.
The Bible says, “For God so LOVED the world, that he GAVE his ONLY begotten SON, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) God loves us so much that He gave His best to us in order that we might be saved and enjoy eternal life. Once we’ve received His best gift of salvation, why would He love us any less and withhold His love and concern from us? He wouldn’t! God cares for us!
Actually, God provided for every area of our lives when He came to be our Sacrifice for sin. For example, in God’s great plan of redemption, He provided for the remission and forgiveness of sin so we could enjoy perfect fellowship with Him. But He also loved and cared for us enough to provide healing for our bodies (Isa. 53:4,5; Matt. 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24).
God has made provision in His Word for everything we need in life. However, we have a part to play in receiving that provision. If we will do our part, God will always do His part.
When you do your part by casting all your anxieties and worries on the Lord, you will receive the full benefit of the love and concern God has for you. Once you cast your cares on the Lord, you don’t have to be concerned about them anymore. And once you’ve given your problems to God to solve, you don’t have to worry and fret about how God is going to solve them. If you will trust Him and believe His Word, God will work them out for you.
So study and meditate on God’s Word about His great love and care for you. Let the fact that you are God’s personal concern sink deep into your heart. Then cast your cares on the Lord, because it’s true – God cares for you!
(The above material appeared in the September 1992 issue of The Word of Faith.)
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