Ask most of us what the opposite of humility is, and we’d come up with pride. Ask us how pride manifests itself and the things that come first to my mind, at least, are boasting . . . self exaltation . . . arrogance . . . esteeming myself above others . . . thinking of myself more highly than I ought . . . and so on. But what add “worrying” to that list and it causes me to pause . . . include “being anxious” as a demonstration of prideful behavior and I start to scratch my head a bit. But I’m thinking I need to expand my list of prideful behaviors based on my reading in 1Peter this morning . . . that I need to beware of “anxious pride.”

“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.” (1Peter 5:6-7 ESV)

Now, I’d consider myself pretty familiar with these two verses . . . but that might be the problem . . . I most often read these as two verses rather than one sentence. To be fair, in some translations they are cast as two separate sentences . . . but do they, in fact, form a connected thought? Is there a relationship between humbling myself under God’s mighty hand and casting all my care on Him? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Peter’s wrapping up his letter to a bunch of Christians who have been taking it in the teeth for their faith. Life has been hard for them . . . and getting harder. With the increasing pressure of persecution you get the sense that there’s an increasing pressure to bail on the faith and to turn on one another. But Peter reminds them that their “here and now” and is to be lived in the reality of God’s promised “there and then” . . . that they are not just a dispersed people, but a special people . . . a people of God’s choosing . . . a holy nation . . . called out of darkness into marvelous light in order to proclaim the excellencies of Christ (2:9). Peter wants them to resist the temptation to take an “every man for himself / eat or be eaten” approach to survival . . . instead they are to keep loving one another (4:8) . . . to show hospitality to one another (4:9) . . . to serve one another (4:10) . . . to clothe themselves with humility toward one another because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (5:5b).

As I think about, refusing to freely give my worries to God is, in a very real sense, birthed in pride. Either in the arrogance of thinking I can power through it on my own . . . or because of a self-absorbed attitude which prefers “woe is me” rather than “greater is He!” It’s when I insist that “my cares” are “MY CARES” that I can get into trouble . . . because they cause within me a desperation to solve my problems in my ways . . . or because they erode the inner man through constant anxiety.

But, when I humble myself . . . when I acknowledge that God’s hand is mighty to save in all situations . . . when I submit to God’s will, trusting in His sovereign purposes . . . when I believe in God’s goodness, that in due time, He will lift me up . . . then I will cast all my anxieties upon Him. Knowing that He cares for me, I will submit myself to His caring provision. Believing that, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31), I will purposefully provide Him with access to my deepest concerns and fears.

Oh, that by His grace, I would know the humility to cast all my cares upon Him . . .