Lighthouse Keeper

Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (TPT)*

It  sounds wonderfully pious to go around saying that if you fix your eyes on Jesus, then you shouldn’t have to worry about yourself at all. 

I see this sentiment posted on Instagram and everyone likes it and says: ”Amen! Yes, get your eyes off yourself”- but I have two problems with this. 

The first one is that it doesn’t reflect the nurturing and caring, Father-heart of God. Imagine if your child came home from school with concerns about the friends or their shoes or their grades or their bike breaking down. Only a careless Father would ignore their child’s concerns and say “Hey-stay on mission. I’m not interested in your cares and concerns”. 

The position of God throughout the Bible is ‘Come to me (Matthew 11) Return to me (Malachi 3, Zechariah 1). Turn to me (2 Chronicles 7). Cry out to me (Jeremiah 33, Psalm 34) Ask me (Luke 11) Cast your cares on me.(1 Peter 5). 

In my daily reading today I was in the Book of Chronicles where there is a summary of the life of King Saul. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14. It states that Saul’s life ended in disobedience because he consulted the witch of Endor and didn’t consult God in his time of need. It never said that Saul thought too much about himself or stressed too much or bothered God with too many requests. He didn’t ask God in his time of need. 

It’s a two-way thing. A conversation between you and God where you pour out your heart before the Lord and ask him as sovereign God. It’s all prayer is.

The second problem is that there is an anxiety epidemic (20% of Americans have a diagnosed anxiety disorder) and all the Christians are going around telling everyone to simply “not worry”. 

It is natural and human to worry and have cares and concerns. We are hard wired to survive and process information and formulate strategies to keep us and our loved ones alive. Frankly I think people who say they don’t worry or don’t have stress are kidding themselves and repressing their feelings. They are also often people who don’t take risks and insulate with money and lead very boring, stayed, lives because they have more fear than anyone. Telling someone to not worry shames them as unbelieving and causes more spiralling and negative thoughts as they question and wrestle with their humanity. Basically;that just makes it worse. 

Living a God-dependent life is scary. As the famous CS Lewis Narnia quote goes: “Course he isn’t safe but he’s good, he’s the king”

When you scratch the surface of supposedly stress free people you’ll find their security is in their bank account or their husband or wife, or their job, or their relatively good health. The main modern day idols of self reliance.  Take these things away and up go the stress levels. Everyone gets a good shake occasionally. 

God is very, very concerned with whatever is bothering or troubling you and He wants to hear from you in the prayer room. Talk to him in your humanity and confusion and fear and He will shepherd you through the topsy-turvy life that we lead. 

It’s ok to think about yourself. It’s human to worry about your kids or your cat or if your car gets stolen. God loves you. 

He always tenderly cares for you.