CASTING
ALL YOU ANXIETY
UPON HIM: pasan ten merimnan humon epiripsantes (AAPMPN) ep auton: (1 Sa 1:10-18;
30:6;
Ps 27:13,14;
37:5;
55:22;
56:3,4;
Mt 6:25,34;
Lu 12:11,12,22;
Php 4:6;
Heb 13:5,6)
Anxious?
Worried? See
Jesus' discussion on Worry/Anxiety in the Sermon on the Mount -
Matthew 6:25-26,
Matthew 6:27-29,
Matthew 6:30-32,
Matthew 6:33-34
For a small booklet click
What Can I Do With My Worry?
(see also
When Fear Seems Overwhelming:
Finding Courage and Hope)
Click
here for 26 Illustrative Stories on "Fear" from
Our Daily Bread
Casting...upon
(1977) (epirrhipto
from epí
= upon + rhípto = cast) means to throw or cast upon. To
throw something upon something else, e.g., throw clothes on an animal
for riding (Lu19:35, the only other NT use)
Note
that the verb
"Casting...upon"
is a participle (ends in "-ing") making it dependent upon verse
six and therefore becoming one of the means by which we humble
ourselves. What could inhibit us from doing this? Pride can keep you
from being willing to humble yourself in this way. You say "I'll do it
my way." But God's care comes when we humble ourselves and trust in
and depend upon His
grace. And we are humble when we depend on God's grace to live the
Christian life. Peter earlier said to
"let those also who suffer
according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful
Creator" (1Peter 4:19)
"Casting...upon"
is in the
aorist tense which Vincent says denotes "an
act once for all; throwing the whole life with its care on Him."
We must once and for all give all of our cares—past, present, and
future—to the Lord. The literal picture is seen in
Luke 19:35 where
"They brought
(the colt) to Jesus, and they threw their coats on
the colt and put Jesus on it."
They did not
throw pieces of their coat on the colt but the "all" of the coat.
How did Paul say
to "cast your cares upon God"? In his epistle to the Philippians, Paul
exhorted them to
"Worry about nothing; pray about everything."
That is, take it
to the Lord in prayer, and leave it there! Don’t pick it up again.
Similarly believers are to cast
"all" (the whole in its entirety) of their care upon Him.
The emphasis is not on casting each individual anxiety, but on casting
the whole of one's life upon the Lord. Stated another way, Peter does
not say to be "casting the big burdens and keeping the little ones!"
We all need to come to the place where we realize that
God is all sufficient for all problems
that may come into our lives. No heartache, difficulty or problem is
too difficult for the plan of God. No sin is too great for the plan of
God. Beloved, our heavenly Father is willing and able to carry our
heaviest (and lightest) burdens but before we can experience God's
sufficiency, we need to acknowledge our insufficiency to live the
Christian life. Is there some anxiety you carrying just now, dear
child of God? What is your heartache? What grief do you bear today?
What disappointment? What hurt feeling? Whatever the burden, go to His
throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace by casting it upon
Him, for He does not want you to carry that burden.
Peter is probably quoting from
the psalm which
Cast your burden (releasing the weight of it) upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the
righteous to be shaken (made to slip, fall or fail). (Ps
55:22)
Spurgeon comments: Thy
burden, or what thy God lays upon thee, lay thou it upon the Lord. His
wisdom casts it on thee, it is thy wisdom to cast it on Him. He cast
thy lot for thee, cast thy lot on Him. He gives thee thy portion of
suffering, accept it with cheerful resignation, and then take it back
to Him by thine assured confidence.
He shall sustain thee. Thy bread shall be given thee, thy waters shall
be sure. Abundant nourishment shall fit thee to bear all thy labors
and trials. As thy days so shall thy strength be.
He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. He may move like the
boughs of a tree in the tempest, but He shall never be moved like a
tree torn up by the roots. He stands firm who stands in God. Many
would destroy the saints, but God has not suffered it, and never will.
Like pillars, the godly stand immoveable, to the glory of the Great
Architect
Anxiety:(3308)
(merimna
from merizo = to divide or
draw different directions - which is exactly what anxiety does
to most of us!) refers to a care (the sole way it is translated
in the KJV) or concern and so to care for someone or something. It is
often used in a negative sense and thus is translated as "worry".
From the origin, one can see that merimna describes the state
of "being pulled apart.” Thus when circumstances are difficult, it is
easy to let oneself be dominated by anxiety and worry.
Merimna
is used 6 times in the NT (Matthew;
Mark;
Luke 2x;
2 Corinthians;
1 Peter)
and is translated KJV (6) - care, 6 and NAS (6) - anxiety, 1; concern,
1; worries, 3; worry, 1
George
Morrison said,
God does not make His children
carefree (Ed note: freedom from anxiety producing situations)
in order that they be careless.
Richards
has an excellent summary of
merimnao (see
word study) and merimna noting that...
When used by the Greeks concerning
the future...both came to connote anxious expectation.
When used of the present, the words expressed an aching sense of
grief. The meaning of any term, however, is defined by the way it
is used. It is the way that Jesus and the writers of the Gospels and
Epistles, guided by the Holy Spirit, used words that filled them with
their biblical meaning...But while it is legitimate to have concerns
that we will at times experience as demanding pressures, there is a
limit to their legitimacy. The "worries of this life" may so dominate
our attention that they make God's Word unfruitful in our lives (Mt
13:22; Mk 4:19). The pressures of legitimate concerns can cause us to
so focus on worldly matters that we forget to relate our needs and our
worries to the Lord...By linking legitimate concerns to God, believers
are freed from anxiety and worry. This freedom allows us to
concentrate on seeking God's kingdom and his righteousness, knowing
that "all these things will be given to [us] as well." So Jesus
concludes, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself."
What the pagan Greeks experienced as anxious concern over a tomorrow
they could not control, the believer who knows God as a loving Father
can experience in calm confidence. Released from fears about tomorrow,
we can concentrate on doing God's will today, as obedient subjects of
a kingdom over which the Almighty rules.
The Gospels recognize the tendency
of legitimate human concerns to lead to a loss of perspective; we can
forget God and adopt a pagan materialism that looks ahead anxiously
and concentrates on running after the material things that seem to
offer security. In order to avoid this tendency, believers must orient
life to God and realize that life's meaning is to be found in living
as subjects who are responsive to their loving, wise, and powerful
King.
Both anxiety and worry spring from
natural and legitimate concerns that are part of life in this world.
But legitimate concerns are handled wrongly when they do one or more
of the following: (1) become dominating concerns in our life and lead
to fear, (2) destroy our perspective on life and cause us to forget
that God exists and cares, or (3) move us to drift into an attitude of
constant worry and concern over a future that we cannot control.
Jesus deals with anxiety by calling us to an awareness of God. God
does exist, and he cares. He is aware of our needs and is committed to
meet our needs. Remaining aware of God frees us from the tyranny of
things. It enables us to focus our lives on our relationship with God
and go on living a righteous and productive life.
The Epistles add to our understanding by pointing out that areas of
legitimate anxiety exist even for the strongest of believers. But the
pressures of even legitimate concerns are not to dominate us or to
make us habitually anxious, worried people. We escape by using anxiety
creatively. This means that we must recognize the feelings of pressure
and concern as a call to prayer. We should immediately turn to God to
lay our needs and the needs of others before him. We then turn back to
live our lives encompassed by his peace. Anxiety, rather than drawing
us away from God, draws us to Him and thus fulfills His purpose for it
in our lives.(Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) (Bolding added)
Louw & Nida
comment that merimna describes
"a feeling of apprehension or
distress in view of possible danger or misfortune. The term merimna
may refer to either unnecessary worry or legitimate concern. The
equivalent of ‘worry’ may be expressed in some languages in an
idiomatic manner, for example, ‘to be killed by one’s mind’ or ‘to be
pained by thinking.’ (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains Vol. 1, Page 312. New
York: United Bible Societies)
Barclay
observes that in a secular Greek writing (a papyrus letter)...
a wife writes to her absent
husband:
“I cannot sleep at night or by
day, because of the worry (merimna) I have about your welfare.”
A mother, on hearing of her son’s
good health and prosperity writes back:
“That is all my prayer and all my
anxiety (merimna).”
Anacreon, the poet, writes:
“When I drink wine, my worries
(merimna) go to sleep.”
In Greek the word is the
characteristic word for anxiety, and worry, and care. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Vine
gives a very illustrative definition of "merimna" (Click
in depth study on related verb
merimnao): stating that
merimna
(3308)
is probably connected with
merizo,
(3307)
“to draw in different directions, distract,”
hence signifies “that which causes this
[that is, this effect of being
drawn in different directions], a care, especially an anxious care”.
To worry is in essence to have a "divided mind" (See RBC
booklet
What Can I Do With My Worry?).
Strong's Lexicon also states
that
merimna
is
from "merizo,
(3307)
through the idea of distraction." So clearly
that which worries or causes anxiety is that which distracts us and
tends to draw us in different directions (compare our common
expression "I feel like everything is falling apart").
Meyer
writes that...
The word anxiety comes from
the same root as anger, and suggests the idea of choking. Worry
chokes the life of faith. It does not help us to overcome our
difficulties, but unfits us for dealing with them. No weapon that is
formed against us shall prosper; every tongue that shall rise against
us shall be condemned; our bread shall be given, and our water sure.
God will perfect that which concerneth us, and His goodness and mercy
shall never cease. Roll thyself and thy burden on the Lord, and leave
them there. Too many take them back again! (F B Meyer. Our Daily Walk)
The
picture even becomes more vivid when we look at
a summary of English dictionary definitions of each word...
Anxious: Characterized by extreme uneasiness of mind or brooding
fear about some contingency (Webster, modern). Worried and tense
because of possible misfortune, danger, etc. (Collins) Experiencing
worry, nervousness, or unease. (Oxford) Concern or solicitude
respecting some event, future or uncertain, which disturbs the mind,
and keeps it in a state of painful uneasiness. it expresses more than
uneasiness or disturbance, and even more than trouble or solicitude.
it usually springs from fear or serious apprehension of evil, and
involves a suspense respecting an event, and often, a perplexity of
mind, to know how to shape our conduct. (Webster, 1828) A state of
restlessness and agitation, often with general indisposition and a
distressing sense of oppression at the epigastrium. (Webster, 1913)
Worry: feel or cause to feel troubled over actual or potential
difficulties. Expressing anxiety. (Concise Oxford). To choke or
stra