Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
1 Peter 5:7 Berean Study Bible Psalm 55:22 NASB
Because He cares for you.
Familiarity breeds contempt. The extraordinary becoming ordinary. In the era of social media, the Truth of Scripture can be lost on us as we scroll past another artfully crafted meme with a feel-good phrase. Even when that phrase is God’s Word.
That nearly happened to me recently as I read my “verse for the day” pocket calendar and quickly recognized this often-quoted and meme enhanced Scripture. Thinking “Oh, I know that verse…” yawn… (I’m being authentic with you here.) But this time, as I read the verse, the Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks as the words Because He cares for you leapt off the page and washed over my heart. I read and reread those words… Holding them up to take in each facet of meaning.
He could have ended the prayer directive with, “because I said so.” …But He didn’t.
It struck me so strongly and so emotionally. What a tender phrase added to the instruction of casting all our anxieties on Him. On Him to carry. On Him to handle. On Him to work out the myriad of beyond-our-ability-details. Yet He wasn’t just academically providing direction on what we ought to do with a religious, legalistic pattern to follow. He wants us to know the why… Because He cares for us. Such love and tender compassion embodied in that phrase. The Amplified Bible reads, He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].
Whatever burdens our heart, burdens His.
Becky white
Whatever burdens our heart, burdens His. He longs for us to bring our every need, our every concern, our every question, our every fear, our every what-if and even our every “why?” and cast them onto the One who cares for us.
Oh Father,It is face-to-the-floor astounding how You tenderly care for what concerns my heart. I lay my anxieties and burdens in Your strong hands and rest in Your sovereign care and control over all that grazes my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Salty Peanuts is more random thoughts than devo. But as always, I hope it encourages you to view your trials through a different lens. The lens of His sovereign control over all we face. – Becky
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good. Genesis 50:20a NKJV
Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word. Psalm 119:67 NKJV
It was for my good that I was humbled; so that I would learn your statutes. Psalm 119:71 ISV
The Truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.
– James A. Garfield.
It’s been said, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” But, Ahhhh, you can feed him lots of salty peanuts!
Sometimes, God “sets the table” (with lots of those little dishes of salty peanuts!) to help us see the truth of who and what we really are. To enable us to recognize our need for Him. What looks like unfairness from our vantage point, may actually be the Lord drawing us closer to Himself.
That table may look like a trial that has engulfed our lives, it may be loneliness or anxiety or it may be a trial enveloping someone we love. Each table has this in common – the pain is so great or the disappointment so deep that we will either turn to God with a renewed level of trust (in spite of the pain) or our heart will harden against Him (because of the pain). There will be no middle ground.
Has God set a table for you today?
Let’s never allow our pain to go to waste, but instead, leverage it for His glory. And remember, the same heat that melts wax, hardens clay. What we do with our “salty peanuts” is up to us.
Father, I am so thankful that I can trust You with every detail, every trial, every challenge that comes my way. Use them for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen
The following is a devotional I wrote (and just came across again) about 15 years ago. As much as I hate to admit it – I still have to wrestle through this issue. Maybe you do to. Perhaps you don’t get tripped up with the same lie, maybe the lie you hear, and fall for, is completely different. Whatever the case – listen closely … whose voice are YOU hearing?
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
Sometimes, as I pray for my family, I inwardly hear, “You should spend time praying for the nations or the president or your friend who’s sick”, so I shift my prayer focus and then I hear, “You haven’t spent any time in the Word today, what makes you think you can pray effectively if you haven’t listened for God’s voice?” Later in the day, I’ll grab a cup of coffee, dig into some office work and then hear, “You really should be helping the kids with their homeschooling, that’s much more important.” Pushing myself away from the computer, I go help with math or review a spelling assignment and then I hear, “Some Mom you are, your teenage kids can’t even get their school work done without you sitting right beside them.” By this time I am completely worn out and feel like a complete failure.
Alright, no laughing! Sure, it’s easy to see the cycle of craziness now, but not so simple when you’re in the midst of it!
While you may not fall for this particular ploy of the enemy, I would bet there are others that trip you up. Does he whisper to you, “A real Christian wouldn’t do that”? Perhaps he tells you, “You haven’t prayed long enough, read the Bible enough or ____________ enough to be of use to God”? Maybe you hear the flip side of that lie, “God doesn’t really expect me to__________, that’s for “super spiritual” people.
See what I mean? It’s not that easy to spot when you’re in the midst of it.
Why do we fall for such lies? Speaking for myself, it happens when I don’t take the time to discern the voice I’m listening to. if I did, I would recall that the Holy Spirit gently leads, corrects and instructs, He doesn’t coerce or criticize, or cause me to feel driven.Ever. Criticism and coercion is the M.O. of our enemy, not our Shepherd.
Eventually I realized that the “voice” I was allowing to guide me wasn’t the Holy Spirit or even my conscience – it was the enemy. I had permitted myself to be pulled in every direction and not only lost my peace in the process, but didn’t accomplish what God really wanted to accomplish through me that day.
Okay, I guess you can laugh now!
“Readers are advised to remember the devil is a liar.”
C.S. Lewis
Father,Please give me the ability to distinguish Your Holy Spirit’s voice from the clamor of the enemy. Enable me to quickly spot the ploys of Satan that get me off course and into confusion. I appreciate so much that I can be real with my needs and frailties, knowing You will accept my heartfelt cry of brokenness. Thank You, Jesus.
Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus
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Your eyes have seen what the LORD did. Deuteronomy 4:3 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children. Deuteronomy 4:9 Remember that […]
The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8 NASB
…My God, Who gives songs in the night. Job 35:10b
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God (while in prison), and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25 NIV
Lean hard into him bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name. Why are you in despair on my soul put your hope in him I will yet praise him the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 103
The thick night darkness hid the emotional ache that permeated me as I mentally surveyed my life’s circumstance. My throat sore from stifled tears, in a near whisper, I sang as my declaration … “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name… (Psalm 103:1) The whispered Scripture turned prayer, fell from my lips as I sang to the Lord, and to my own spirit.
That painful, yet powerful, decades-old memory surfaces as my eyes land on the scripture that speaks of “songs in the night.”
The apostles sang songs in the night as they lay shackled in a Roman prison cell … singing God’s praises in the midst of their painful circumstance. Right there in the ongoing unfairness and cruelty, simply for doing the right thing. And Scripture tells us that “the other prisoners heard” the praise songs, and most importantly, they listened.
There’s something about a person walking through pain and trial, who still turns to God … in trusting praise. Maybe through tears and a cracking voice, perhaps, but turning to Him anyway. Others take notice and stop to “listen” as we sing our song in the night. Not a life that never encounters a night, but those who choose to “sing” in the midst of it all.
From a bad hair day to the death of a loved one to an all-encompassing loneliness and everything in between, whatever our night season looks like, if we turn to Him, He will provide a song in our night. An authentic song that others will stop to listen to, and perhaps turn to The song Giver.
If God would make manifest the fact that “He giveth songs in the night,” He must first make it night.
—William Taylor
My Father, as “night” swirls around us, enable us to turn to You rather than away, to Your Word and Your soul-deep Comfort and Peace. We love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen
When I am afraid, I will trust in You. Psalm 56:3 Legacy Standard Bible
The LORD sat as King at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever. Psalm 29:10 NASB 1995
Whatever the reason, pain confronts us all in one form or another. Like a gut punch that leaves us gasping for air, there are some life trials that nearly take our breath away. Some from the instant shock and awe of searing pain, others steal our breath away from their sheer duration and scope.
Recently, while walking through a trial (Not sitting still, but walking through, an important point for another devo) I noticed that though my trust in the Lord hadn’t waivered, the ache in my heart remained. After talking to the Lord about the emotional heaviness and ache, I turned to my go-to place in His Word – The book of Psalms. There I read Psalm after Psalm of King David describing the ache of the human heart. Words that echoed the pain of my own heart. But this time I noticed (or re-noticed?) that he spoke of fear and emotional pain mingled with the fact that he trusted in God. I had accidently assumed that if I “really” trusted God with my heartache or trial, that my feelings would follow. Silly me.
In a world that is more comfortable with plastic smiles and “I’m fine” salutations, this fact is so freeing. Especially to those walking through a season of pain. It’s okay to “feel” the pain of real- life trials and share the honest, “I’m not fine” answer to the question of, “How are you today?” Maybe you’ve felt the pressure to suck it up and put on a plastic smile, rather than admit that right now life is painful or maybe a season of trial has caught you off guard. I pray God’s Word frees you as it freed me.
And if we’re the one asking the question of how are you… Let’s give room for honest answers coupled with a listening ear.
When I am afraid, I will trust in Him.
One last point, He sits as King over the flood of our life’s circumstances. Not me. Not you. God Himself sits as King over whatever has flooded into our lives. Even as we ache and acknowledge the pain, we will trust that He’s got this. Whatever the outcome.
The Psalms wrap nouns and verbs around our pain better than any other book. ― Joni Eareckson Tada
Father God, I am so grateful for Your grace to walk through our life’s trials. As the ache of our hearts reacts to the raw reality of pain, enable Your people to rest in Your sovereign care. We love You. In Jesus’ name Amen
An audio only, short montage of thoughts on the topic of suffering.
Though it’s totally unscripted and not at all polished, I pray you hear real life thoughts on God’s Word and how to authentically apply it to our lives.
I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt…
I will bring you up out of the suffering and oppression of Egypt … to a land flowing with milk and honey…
Hebrews 8:9b AMPC Exodus 3:17 AMP
I love to walk hand in hand with my husband, whether we’re power-walking trails at a nearby park or strolling through grocery store aisles. There’s something tender, personal and even “safe” about such a simple gesture. It also necessarily means that we are going away from, and then to, the same location, together.
In today’s Scripture reading we hear our Lord say this about His people, “I led them by the hand.” God, the Creator, Sustainer and Lord of all…”led them by the hand!” If that isn’t enough to blow our minds into face-to-the-floor worship, He goes on to say where He led them from, “Out of Egypt.” Let’s keep this simple. Egypt is B-A-D, full of emotional, physical and relational pain.
Though the ancient Israelites were in, and then led out of, a literal land of Egypt, you and I encounter our own versions of “Egypt” don’t we? The emotional ripping and tearing of abuse or addiction. The relational pain of pornography or divorce or loneliness. The physical challenges of our own illnesses or the searing pain of helplessly watching those we love suffer.
Beloved, He promises the same, for you and I.
Lord, enable me to find my security in You alone. Not in my spouse or children or career or bank account or service or ________, but in You alone. The utterly faithful One.
I will lead them.
By the hand.
Out of Egypt.
Our Sovereign God has not promised to whisk us away in a fairy-tale-esque escape plan. No. But He has promised to lead us out. To lead us through… step by challenging step. And miracle by miracle, if needed. Providing the manna of His Presence along the journey as He leads into our own land flowing with the milk and honey of joy in the midst of, peace in spite of. And blessing us with, “I’ve been where you are” compassion and empathy. Handing us a testimony that shouts His great faithfulness that led us by the hand through the wilderness and out of our own Egypts, right into the promise land of fulfilling His purposes in us, and for us.
God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.
Elisabeth Elliot
My Lord,Such tenderness and compassion You show through the promise to lead Your people (which includes me!!) by hand… out of my Egypt and into the promise land where I will testify of Your great faithfulness to restore and deliver. I love You beyond words. In Jesus’ name, Amen
For we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]— 2 Corinthians 5:7 Amplified Bible
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 Berean Standard Bible
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17
(Though this devo has a Christmas theme, the point was brought back to my mind recently so I thought I’d share it again) I pray it encourages you, no matter your paper-trail. Whether it’s stellar or grungy. He’ll use it all. IF we let Him.
Cracking eggs on the side of a large metal bowl, the young volunteer and I made small talk as we prepared breakfast for folks in need of a hot meal. Figuring we’d need about 18 dozen to feed everyone, our conversation carried on as we cracked, whipped and then cooked eggs, sausage and biscuits. In the midst of our serving, she mentioned how tired she was, so I asked, “Oh, do you have young children at home?” Assuming little ones were stealing away her night’s sleep.
Laughing out loud, she giggled, “No! I’m only 19!”
Now it was my turn to laugh, as I shared with her that by 19, I had already been married, divorced, had given birth to four children. I had also buried a daughter. That conversation opened the flood gates to share with her, how I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Often, when I share quick snippets of my story, I tell folks, “I don’t look good on paper.” By that I mean, if only the black and white facts of my life (paper) are known, it looks like a hot, depressing, , hopeless mess. But God.
But God used the tragedies thrust upon me, as well as those I thrust upon myself, to cause me to recognize my need for Him. And He continues to use the many trials of life to drive home the point that I am to walk by faith and not by sight. To live by faith in Him and His faithfulness, not my fickle emotions. That He is good, even when life hurts. And that the worst-case scenarios can happen simultaneously with Hope in Him flourishing. In short, trust Him, no matter what things look like. Trust Him no matter the circumstance. Rely on the Truth of His Word rather than what we see with our eyes.
As we will soon prepare to celebrate the literal incarnation of God, through the physical birth of Jesus Christ, I am reminded that things are not always as they appear. Who would have ever thought, God would arrive on the scene in such a way? “On paper,” it appeared that He was born in an animal stable to a poor, unwed couple facing a crisis pregnancy. The world would say, a no body, born to no bodies, in the middle of nowhere. Yet, here we are today, over 2,000 years later, celebrating His birth. His birth that split history in two and sacrificial death that split the veil that separated a holy God from unholy, sinful folks like you and I. Today, He sits at the right hand of the throne of God.
Do you have a paper trail that includes challenges like addiction or abuse or prison or depression or regret? I understand. Or maybe your paper trail is peppered with college degrees, ministry work, financial wealth or a “moral” life. While some of us are more spit-shined than others, we all stand in need of The Savior.
As I shared that day over a bowl of scrambled eggs – He saved me, and while life will always have challenges, He turned my mess into ministry, and now it’s my greatest honor to serve Him with my life, in whatever way He chooses. He has given me a new paper trail. If He can do it for me, He can do the same for you.
“In perplexities—when we cannot tell what to do, when we cannot understand what is going on around us, let us be calmed and steadied and made patient by the thought that what is hidden from us is not hidden from Him”
— Frances Ridley Havergal
Father, Thank You for sending Your One and only Son, those 2,000 years ago. My Lord Jesus. Erasing what I had on paper and giving me Your sinless record instead. Astounding. I bow in awe of Your goodness and mercy! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus.
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In quietness and trust shall be your confidence and strength.
Isaiah 26:3-4
Father, the enemy temps me to doubt You, to question Your timing, Your goodness and even Your awareness of my circumstance. Words and phrases like, Frantic, Anxious, Striving, Worrying, Fearful, or “What if…?” and “Why?” attempt to pierce my soul like a poison dart. Forgive me for the times I’ve allowed them to penetrate, wreaking havoc within me. Cause me to be aware and able to quickly discern the enemy’s lies, holding up my shield of faith as I wield the mighty sword of the Spirit of Your Word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit I will be still before You and before the sea of my circumstances, in quietness and trust I shall be confident in You and Your faithfulness. Exhaling the enemy’s fear inducing lies – I breath in deeply the truth that if You are for me who or what can be against me? You hold my life in the palm of Your hand…is that not enough?
I love You, Father. In the matchless name of my Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
