You’re anxious, because you think it hangs on you.

You look at the future, the money, the diagnosis, the conflict, the people who might hurt you, the problems you cannot fix, and you feel as though you are the one who has to deal with it.

And if you don’t deal with it, who will?

The Bible gives a very different answer. God does not tell you to pretend your problems are small. He does not tell you to stop caring. He does not tell you to abandon your responsibilities.

He tells you this:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

In other words: you are not God. And that is good news, because the one who is God is in a good mood with you. Here’s what those verses mean, bit by bit:

Humble yourselves: give up trying to control what God has not given you to control. This doesn’t mean stopping to serve faithfully in your vocations in life, Peter has spent the letter explaining them. But let go of the burden of believing that everything outside your control still depends on you.

Under the mighty hand of God: because God is Almighty. He’s the one truly in control: not the bank, not those people who’ve caused you such problems, not that diagnosis, not the everyday grind that seems to never go away. God’s mighty hand is in control.

At the proper time he will exalt you: your feeling of powerlessness, humiliation, frustration, or isolation will not last forever. God will lift you up. He will bring you honour, peace, security, relationships. He’ll just do it at the proper time. He won’t do it too early—but also he won’t do it too late. The final fulfilment of this promise will be in the next life, but where it is right and good for you, you’ll experience partial exaltation in this life. I don’t know exactly what he’ll do when—because I’m not God either. But what we do know is this: He’ll do everything at the best, most right, and most appropriate time. And your eventual exaltation is certain.

Casting all your anxieties on him: you humble yourself under him by praying. Prayer is explicitly asking God to intervene because he is the one with power, not me. That’s why true prayer only flows from faith, which is simply trust in God’s goodness and promises.

Because he cares for you: Peter explicitly tells us about God’s good attitude toward you, which is the basis for all prayer. I don’t pray to persuade, cajole, or convince God. I pray because I already know he loves and cares for me, and he exercises his care toward me through me trusting him and so asking him for his goodness.

So what should you do with your anxiety?

Do not pretend it is nothing. But at the same time, do not baptise your need for control as wisdom. Do not carry tomorrow as though God has handed the government of the world over to you.

Cast your anxieties on him.

Tell him the problem. Tell him the fear. Tell him the thing you cannot fix. Tell him the future you cannot control. And then hear the reason Peter gives you:

“Because he cares for you.”

That is the central message of our church: God is in a good mood with you, and you see that when you look at Jesus. God doesn’t need convincing to care for you. He doesn’t need persuading that the problems that feel insurmountable to you matter.

That care is not vague. It is not sentimental. God has shown his care for you in Jesus Christ, who carried your sin, your shame, your death, and your future to the cross.

God died to deal with your problems.

At Manchester Lutheran Church, we gather every Sunday to hear that promise again: not that we are strong enough, wise enough, or in control enough, but that Christ is merciful, faithful, and mighty to save.

If you live near Greater Manchester, come and receive God’s care for you at Manchester Lutheran Church every Sunday. Join us at 10:45am for coffee and 11:00am for the service: https://mcrlt.ch/sundays/

If you live outside Greater Manchester, you can hear and receive this with the Confessional Lutheran Church every Wednesday at 6:00pm: https://lutheran.ch/online-service/