{"id":536,"date":"2015-10-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=536"},"modified":"2015-10-17T19:46:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T00:46:58","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-gods-abiding-care-for-believers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/2015\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-gods-abiding-care-for-believers\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about God’s abiding care for believers?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.\u201d 1\u00a0Peter\u00a05:6\u20137<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Promises, promises, our world is full of promises, especially during election season. It is a good thing that our God is not a politician, nor a man like we are! His promises are sure, irrevocable, complete, purposeful, perfect and backed by His very nature. We do not merely have a promissory note from Him. We have evidences all around us that He is making good on His promises every day. When you once have the promise of God secured you have everything!<\/p>\n

It has long been my contention that once a believer fully grasps that everything his soul holds dear rests in the capable, loving, and active hands of God, then he can throw his energy into the work that God holds dear, holding nothing back. He can let go of his cares and turn any new cares over to the Lord with a joyful, relieved heart then get back to work for the Lord.<\/p>\n

I desire to take you through several passages of Scripture to express the depth of the care God bestows upon you. Our text above beautifully illustrates the act of placing all you care about in the hands of God. It quotes Psalm\u00a055:22, \u201cCast your burden (one\u2019s lot, one\u2019s circumstances) on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved (to collapse). Verse 7 says we are to cast our cares on Him, a term used in Luke\u00a019:35 of throwing a blanket on a donkey. It is quite a picturesque way of indicating the real Burden Bearer is God and He is willing to put Himself in that position for you. Your worries, insecurities, and uncertainties become His special responsibility, for He cares for you! Your cares are His now, they are deposited with Him. Trust Him in this. He will not fail in His trust. He goes out of His way to say so.<\/p>\n

John\u00a010:28\u201330 states, \u201cAnd I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father\u2019s hand. I and My Father are one.\u201d Concerning all who are born again, God\u2019s promise is that none of them shall perish. The English text simply says, \u201cnever perish,\u201d but in Greek it is full of emphasis\u2014\u201cthey shall not, they shall not perish, no, not eternally!\u201d (Wuest)<\/p>\n

He explains why you never perish in the surrounding verses. First, God gave you into the hand of His Son (v.\u00a029), a tense that indicates that God gave you as a permanent gift, permanently retained. Second, no one, not just any man but even Satan himself, can snatch you away from the mighty hand of God (v.\u00a028). Third, God and His Son retain your care in their keeping because they do not merely have unity of power but unity of essence (v.\u00a030). There is no disagreement between them and the very essence of God is involved in keeping you secure!<\/p>\n

Another text employing the double negative to emphasize the embrace of God is John\u00a06:37, \u201cAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.\u201d Deeply rooted in the sovereign, majestic will of God is the sustaining lifeline of God\u2019s promise of reception and embrace for every believer (Ephesians\u00a01:4\u20137). Notice the very similar terms as found in 10:28\u201330. Once again we see the emphasis, \u201cI will not, I will not cast out (literally\u2014throw out from within).\u201d God will not throw you out from within His house to outside His house. Revelation\u00a022:15 speaks of those who are without the City of God, those who are outside of His grace. By God\u2019s solemn promise you can never be rejected or ejected!<\/p>\n

One final text with a similar promise is Hebrews\u00a013:5, \u201cLet our conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, \u2018I will never leave you nor forsake you.\u2019\u201d Surely, there is more to this than the fact that God, who is omnipresent anyway, will always be standing by\u2014because He cannot help but be close by. There is richness to the text that is worth reviewing.<\/p>\n

First, \u201cHe Himself has said,\u201d meaning He personally made the promise. He has placed His own testimony on the line and extended His personal promise to you. Second, He promises He will not, He will not leave you. He will never cease to uphold and sustain you (Philippians\u00a04:13). It is not just His presence that sustains but His unflagging exertions upon and for you. Third, He promises He will not, He will not forsake you. The original word translated forsake is made up of three words that when put together build the meaning\u2014to leave, to leave down, to leave down in. He will never abandon or desert you, He will never leave you in desperate straits struggling to survive, and He will never leave you helplessly dashed and thoroughly unable.<\/p>\n

Our God is our ever present help (Psalm\u00a046:1). He is here right now with an ever ready supply for any need (Isaiah\u00a055, Philippians\u00a04:19). He promises He will rescue you in His mighty arms (Hebrews\u00a04:14\u201316). Cast all your care upon Him for He really does care for you, and get busy about His work! Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.\u201d 1\u00a0Peter\u00a05:6\u20137 Promises, promises, our world is full of promises, especially during election season. It is a good thing that our God is not a politician, nor a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}