The verse 7 from the first book of Peter 5, I am very sure, is not at all strange to you. “Cast your burden unto Jesus, for he cares for you” certainly this must be one of your favorite verses in the whole Bible. There are sufficient reasons for this verse being so dear to many of the believers .This is the verse which had strengthened you in so many situations where almost all of your friends and dear ones ,even you yourself were unsuccessful in comforting you . So we keep this verse very close to our heart and life. Indeed this verse is yet again a most preached word from the new testament and therefore I just want to move outside of the text and see the verse from another angle ,to see why some times even this verse is seems meaningless to some people.
After two or three days travel in the train the tired traveler would call a taxi from station and mostly keep his/her luggage in the dickey or seat and would sit comfortably but there are people who wouldn’t do this but keep the entire luggage on their legs and suffer the heaviness of the load through out the journey . The same way we also travel with Jesus still keeping all our burdens on our head as if we are unwilling to caste them on Him.
Here we have another group who come home tired after purchasing for so many hours in the marketplaces, the immediate thing they would do is to throw the luggage somewhere and throw oneself on to the sofa or bed and relax for some moments.
Most of us know where to cast our burdens but do not know what to do next. I was told this story of a man who had been convicted and was waiting for the judgment. Someone told him about Jesus who loves and caring .This knowledge eventually led him to repentance and later he put his complete trust in God. According to the law he was to be punished for his crime .To he casting his burden on anyone seemed irrational and meaningless. Still he believed in the promises of God so he not only cast his burden on Jesus with faith but also he threw himself on to the word and stayed relaxed .The comforting bed on which he threw himself was Romans 8:1,”there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus “- the end of the story is that he was miraculously released from the jail.
Normally we cast our burdens on Jesus and continue putting more and more burdens everyday. But the next thing a person should do is to look for the comfortable sofas that follows Jesus’ command “to cast our burdens” that is his promise and assurance –“He cares for us” the most important thing to remember then is to Cast your burdens …and cast yourself on his promises just like the little child cast itself on to the shoulders of his mother and sleep peacefully forgetting everything around even himself.
When Peter was writing this letter, the believers were facing persecution .They were struggling to stay firm in their faith. In that situation the only thing one could was to cast all the cares on someone who is able to carry the burdens and it is Jesus. Along with this advice Peter provided a comforting promise for them to cast themselves on “that God cares’’. Let us cast our burdens on Jesus completely but learn to cast ourselves on to his promises.
May the God who cares be with us!
