Humble Yourself, Cast Your Cares - 1 Peter 5:6-7

The Christian life is not built on rules and regulations. The Christian life is built on relationships, and relationships involve principles. You know, if a man and woman get married, their home and their happiness must be built on relationship. But if that relationship is to be all that it ought to be, there are certain principles that they have to accept, believe, and practice. Now, the Christian life is this way. And it's a wonderful thing as you read the Word of God to see these principles that stand out, no matter where you read.

When you read Genesis or Revelation, you find the same principles, principles that God has laid down in this universe. The same principles apply. God changes his methods. God changes his workers. God never changes his standards and God never changes his principles. One of those principles is found in 1 Peter 5:6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Now, what is the principle? The principle is simply this: the only way to go up is to go down.

The only way to have God's hand lifting you up is to submit so that God's hand is pushing you down. Humility is the first step toward honor. If we resist God by being proud and wanting our own way, God's hand will come upon us and push us down until we are humbled. Then God will be able to lift us up. You see, Peter is saying this to his Christian friends. The fiery trial is going to come. You are going to go through the furnace. One way to get out of the furnace is to exalt yourself, promote yourself. There are always strings that you can pull, there are always lies that you can tell, but something's going to happen to your character.

No, the way to get out of the furnace is to put yourself under the hand of God. Submit yourself to God. God resists the proud, but God gives grace to the humble. Not only does he give grace to the humble, he gives glory to the humble, that he may exalt you in due time. And this is what he talks about in verse 10. The God of all grace, who hath called us to his eternal glory. God wants to give us grace and glory. You find that in Psalm 84, don't you? He will give us grace and glory. The Lord will give grace and glory.

Now, you don't get glory without grace. Oh, men can give you glory without grace, but watch this, it's very important. If you get glory without grace, it will break you. But if you get glory plus grace, it will make you. Why? Because grace deals with our character. You see, grace builds up your character so that God can trust you with glory. Grace builds up your character when you become a servant, then he can trust you to be a ruler. That's the principle of 1 Peter 5:6. When we humble ourselves and let God worry about the future, he exalts us in due time. If we go around looking to exalt ourselves, promote ourselves, God is going to knock us down.

Now you can go through the Bible and meet people who will tell you, we experienced this principle. Joseph. God told Joseph through his dreams that one day Joseph would be a ruler and his family would bow down before him. But at the age of 17, Joseph wasn't ready to be a ruler. He had not yet learned how to be a servant. And God caused Joseph to go through 13 years of trial and testing. He was under the mighty hand of God until the right time came. Remember, I said before, whenever God puts his children into the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock and he keeps his hand on the thermostat. He also keeps his hand on you. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Joseph in prison could not understand why God didn't do something. When the right time came, God did it. And Joseph was exalted in due time. You see, God could trust Joseph on the throne because he discovered he could trust Joseph in the prison, in the kitchen, taking care of Potiphar's household. God does not turn his hand over and lift us up until he sees that when he turns his hand and pushes us down, we are submissive. If we are under his hand, then one day his hand will be under us and lift us up.

This was true of Moses. Moses took a sword in his hand and he thought he was going to straighten out the Israeli-Egyptian problem back in his day, and he killed a man. God said, "Moses, that's not the way we do it. You're not going to promote your way. You've got to learn my way. It's not your arm, it's my arm. It's not your hand, it's my hand. It's not your weapons, it's my weapons." And God had to put Moses off in the wilderness taking care of sheep. Moses was learned in all of the wisdom of Egypt, had a Ph.D. as it were, from Egypt, but he had to learn one thing, God has his time. And when God's servant is submitted under God's hand, and when God's servant patiently waits for God's time, then God is going to work.

This was true of Joshua. Joshua didn't say to himself, "One of these days I want to replace Moses." I'm afraid of people like that. Really, I am. I'm afraid of people in churches or in organizations who set their goals, their ambition selfishly, to get their hands on some office or some responsibility. God is the one who puts people where they ought to be. Joshua began as Moses' servant. You see, Joseph was a servant, he became a ruler. Moses was a servant, he became a ruler. Joshua was a servant, he became a ruler. Gideon was a servant, he became a ruler. David, I like this one. Here's young David out there taking care of the sheep. Nobody knew he killed the lion and the bear. God knew it. You say, "Well, I've had some great victories, but I can't tell anybody." God knows all about it. Don't worry about it. God's preparing you for what he is preparing for you. And David humbled himself under the mighty hand of God and God lifted him up.

This was true of our Lord Jesus. You see, when Jesus Christ came to this earth, he came as a servant. He humbled himself. He came as a servant. He became obedient. He was under the mighty hand of God, and he was exalted in due time. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. And the Lord Jesus Christ today is on the throne of glory.

Now, this is the principle God's written into the universe. Before there can be exaltation, there must be humiliation. Before we can climb onto the throne, we must learn what it's like to bow at the footstool. If we are not submitted to God and submitted to one another, God cannot promote us. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. If God wants to make you a ruler, he's going to make you a servant. If God wants to give you many things, he's going to start by giving you a few things, and he's going to watch to see whether or not you're faithful. If he can't trust you to take care of $10 honestly, he won't give you $10 million. God is the God who prepares us. He's the creator, we're the creatures. He's the father, we're the children. He's the teacher, we're the disciples. He's the potter, we're the clay.

Now, it's not our task to run our own lives, our own way, to promote our own thing. This is the way the world operates. The world says, "Do your own thing. Climb the pyramid. If you've got to walk on other people to do it, you climb the pyramid, you get to the top." And Peter says, "No, God resists the proud." And, oh, he has ways of doing it. Sometimes when God sees we are proudly stocking along on our own goal-setting and our own ambitious endeavors, he just puts us down. There's nothing wrong with godly ambition. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be successful to the glory of God. But if that success is carnal success, if that ambition is selfish ambition, watch out. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Now hear me, if we do not submit to God, we're going to have a rough time submitting to other people. You say, "Well, I'll submit to my parents or I'll submit to my teachers or to the authorities over me, but I'm not going to submit to God." Then you're going to have nothing but abrasion, nothing but difficulty. If we submit first to God, then we have no problem submitting to others. You know why? God's hand is over us, and God's hand is under us, and God's hand is around us molding us, and God is in control. If we do not submit, then people and circumstances run our lives. If we do submit, then God runs our lives, and he runs people and circumstances, and we have nothing to be afraid of. Lay hold of this principle. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. This statement in 1 Peter 5:7 has been a great encouragement to us over the years. I'm sure that you have quoted it to yourself, and you have quoted it to others as well. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7. Now, in examining this statement, I'd like us to try to answer four basic questions.

Question number one: Does God care? You say, "Well, Mr. Wiersbe, that's a strange statement because 1 Peter 5:7 says that he does care." Wait a minute. I have visited with people who have looked me straight in the eye, I mean Christian people, and they've said, "Pastor, I tell you, we don't really think God cares about us anymore." You know, the disciples went through an experience like that one night in a storm. Our Lord was asleep in the boat. I read in Mark 4:38, and they awake him and say unto him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" They were sure that Jesus did not care.

Does God care? When you see tragedies all around, sickness and sorrow and death, automobile accidents and plane crashes, hurricanes and storms, maladies that are spreading from place to place. Does God care? Well, the devil likes us to believe that he doesn't. That's why in the next verse, Peter says, "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." God whispers to us that he cares, and sometimes we can't hear that whisper of love because all we can hear is the roaring of the lion.

And Satan says to us, "Oh, God cares, why did your baby die? Oh, God cares, why did your husband lose his job? Sure, God cares, why are you losing your home, your farm? God cares, sure, tell us about it." How do we know that God cares? Well, it's not by looking at the newspaper, it's not by watching the television, it's not even by examining our own lives and the lives of others.

How do we know God cares? Because God tells us that he cares. And that should be enough. The Christian life is built on relationships, and relationships depend upon confidence, words. Two people say to each other, "I do, I do." There is a confidence of words. We make promises to God and to each other. We have all the promises of God to convince us that God cares. You don't judge God's caring compassion on the basis of the way you feel or what you see.

We know that God cares because of Calvary. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so God cares. Does God care? Yes, he does. In spite of the way we feel, in spite of what we see, in spite of what we don't understand, God cares. He is the caring God. And whenever you question that, just go to the cross and listen to the Lord Jesus. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It is finished. Into thy hands I commend my spirit." God cares.

Question number two: Why does God care? Why should God care for us? Now, I know God cares for creation. God knows the names of the stars. He has all the road maps of the galaxies. God has numbered the hairs on our head. For some of us, that's not much of a problem, is it? God knows our names and our needs and our natures. God knows all about creation. He made it, and creation praises him and creation obeys him.

I can understand God taking care of creation. But why would God want to take care of me? I have disobeyed his will, I've rebelled against him. I have wasted some of the resources he's given to me. Oh, my, why should God care for me? Well, number one, his glory is at stake. You know, if God doesn't take care of his own children, what is going to happen to his name? You know, if you and I don't take care of our children, people say, "Oh, yeah, look at those people down there, they don't even take care of their own children." What would happen to our good name? Sometimes you go into a store and a clerk will say, "Well, I've got to see some credentials now, I can't accept your order." They want to be sure your name is good.

God protects his name by caring for his children. If God did not care for his children, he loses more than we do. Why does God care? Because his glory is at stake, because his purposes are involved. God cared for Joseph, put Joseph through some rough experiences because he had some purposes to fulfill. God cared for Jacob, even though Jacob was a rebel and a difficult man. God cared for Jacob. He had some purposes to fulfill. Jacob was going to start the nation of Israel. And God cared for Moses, and for Joshua, and for David, and for Jeremiah. Why? He had purposes to fulfill.

When the child of God is in the will of God, he has the promise of God that God will care for him. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, says 1 Peter 5:6. In due time. God has his times. God has his purposes. And God's times are never off, and God's purposes are never wrong. And let me repeat it once again. When God puts us into the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock, and he keeps his hand on the thermostat. He knows just how much and just how long.

Why does God care? Because he loves us. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. That last phrase can be translated, "for you are his personal concern." He doesn't turn you over to a committee. He doesn't issue you a book of instructions. He simply says, "I am personally going to care for you." Now, it's amazing. The God who names the stars knows about your broken heart. The God who has created this vast universe that scientists don't even understand, cares about you personally, because of his love. Does God care? Yes, he does. Why does God care? Because his glory, his reputation, is at stake. He has purposes to fulfill. His love reaches out to us. We are his personal concern. He keeps his promises.

Now, question number three: For whom does God care? We've got to watch the sequence here. In verses 1 through 4 of 1 Peter 5, Peter tells us that God cares for those who are serving. When you're faithfully serving God, you share the burdens of others. When you're faithfully serving God and doing the job he's called you to do, the devil's going to fight you. For whom does God care? Those who are serving, those who are submitting, verses 5 and 6. You can't claim verse 7 if you have ignored verses 5 and 6. All of you be subject one to another. That would take care of a lot of our cares right now. Peter tells us, "Look, if you are submitted to one another, and if you humble yourself under God's hand, he's going to care for you." He has to. Now, if you're resisting God's hand, if you're pushing against God's hand, then he has to discipline you. And then he's going to use the cares and the problems of life to break you. But if you are submitted to one another, clothed with humility, if we are humbled under the hand of God, then we can cast all of our care upon him because he cares for us. For whom does God care? He cares for his people who are faithful.

Now, how does God care? That's our fourth and final question. How does God care? God does not care for us by making us careless or carefree. I want that to sink in. Some people have the idea that God cares for us instantly by healing our bodies. Sometimes he does that. Instantly by giving us a new job. Instantly by having the banker change his mind about foreclosing. Sometimes God does those things, but not always. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

How does he care for us? He cares for us by giving us grace. Verse 5: "God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble." All kinds of grace. Verse 10: "But the God of all grace." God has grace for every situation of life. Now, what is grace? Well, God's riches at Christ's expense or God's resources available for Christians everywhere. G-R-A-C-E. Grace is God granting to us what we don't deserve, what we cannot get for ourselves, what we never could pay for. God working on our behalf. That's grace.

And, oh, how costly grace is. Calvary. Grace is love that paid a price that we might be able to experience God's resources. God gives grace. God also gives us his hand. Verse 6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Why are we under his hand? That he might protect us. What are we supposed to do? Once and for all, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. This verse can read like this: Casting the whole of your care, all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all on him, for he cares for you. Say, "Father, you're going to take care of this." Now, he's not going to make you carefree to make you careless. God is going to use the cares of life to make you a person of character. And his greatest joy is to see us become more like the Lord Jesus, and who suffered more than he did. Casting all your care upon him. Once and for all, take all of it. Give it to him, for he careth for you.

You see, Satan is dangerous. And Satan is smart. He hates God. He hates God's people.