6 And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand
7 by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you.
| In Due Time |
vs. 6 - "humble yourselves under his mighty hand" - Submit yourselves to God. I think Americans have a problem with submitting ourselves to anybody. Our heritage, starting with the Revolution, the Civil War, extending to today's 'Resist" movement has been "No one tells me what to do!" What is the aim of many people? To be their own boss. We have a strong independence streak running through us. Ask yourself, "Who is in charge of my life, of my behavior?"
Don't glibly answer, "God is." In some ways we act as practical atheists - Campus Crusade for Christ describes this as being a 'carnal man'. Not carnal in the sense of immoral, sexual behavior, but in the sense that we have put our own ego or self on the throne of our life, and not Jesus. "I can take care of this," or, "I can do this" are symptomatic of believing the lie.
The lie is that we are in control. The poem Invictus by William E. Henley is about standing firm in the face of overwhelming odds and circumstances. It is an anthem of courage and defiance. Yet, the most famous line, and the strongest sounding cry, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul..." is also the saddest. While it exhorts us to never give up, it also is a rallying cry of defiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not saying that Christians openly stand and shake their fist at God. We do it more subtly, quietly, in the form of passive resistance. The resulting defiance is the same whether it is 'in your face', or sneaky and hidden.
Our problem (especially my problem) is that we can go through the day without thinking to much about it. We operate by rote. We do what we have always done. Jesus is saying there is a better way. "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him". (Psa. 37:7) "In his heart man plans his course, but God determines the steps." (Prov. 3:5,6)
Two prayers I have learned from a devotional book are part of the secret of living for Jesus: "Help me, Jesus," and "I trust You, Jesus." Paul says it clearly in Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Humbling ourselves is believing and committing to the fact that Jesus is in control. The reward for believing in Him and thereby yielding to Him, will come.
Please do not misunderstand, the rewards are not relegated to the future only. Rather than standing and shaking our fist at life, we can be comforted in His arms, because we can trust that He cares for us. Jer. 29:11
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.' If we would only pay attention to Jesus our well-being would be like a stream that never runs dry. (See: Isa. 48:18)
vs. 7 - "cast all your cares..." - Worrying is a form of practical atheism. Fretting about tomorrow's events will not make them go away, or improve them. (See: Matt. 6:34) In fact, fretting may lead anger, revenge, and other evil in your life. (See Ps. 37:8) That does not mean we should take a "What? Me worry?" attitude. The problems can be confronted and overcome if we give them to the Lord. See: Phil. 4:6-7.
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