Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of Psalms, “I was cast upon You from birth. From my mother’s womb you have been my God,” Psalm 22 verse 10, (NKJV). The opening verse of this psalm of David was quoted by Jesus Christ on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” The psalm is a prophetic witness to Christ’s suffering on the Cross. Despite vivid verbal imagery of the cruel pain and humiliation of the Lord, the psalm ends jubilantly. The victory that will be secured by the Messiah is foretold. “They shall come, and (it) shall be declared, His righteousness to a people yet to be born, He has done it, “it is finished,” (Amplified Bible). Christ, the Son, was cast upon the Father, and died for us all, vanquishing death and condemnation. God came in Christ’s anxiety. Through his obedience unto death, he was raised through death to life-everlasting. We therefore can “cast our anxieties on Him” for He cares for us, (First Letter of Peter, Chapter 5 verse 7). The Father cared for the Son and his plans and purposes were fulfilled in his Son’s work on the Cross to reconcile the world to their Father. We can live as reconciled people, bringing our anxieties to God, who created and planned for us, and knitted us in our mother’s womb, dedicating us to him, (Psalm 139 verse 13). The faith and grace that God bestows on us is given to us through the Work of the Son, Jesus, on the Cross. Humans have been in his plans for good and not for harm, but to be given a future and hope, (Jeremiah 29 verse 11).
The words “to cast” carry deep and significant meaning throughout Scripture. To cast means to depend totally on someone else to carry a burden. Casting is a decisive act of “throwing unto or into,” as when Jesus told the disciples, “cast your nets to the other side.” The disciples, seasoned fishermen, worked a whole night on the waters, not finding any fish. They obeyed the Lord. They acted in faith and the miracle catch occurred in the same waters where they could not find a single fish. The writer of Ecclesiastes states in Chapter Eleven verse one, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days,” (Amplified Bible). We do not know when our acts of casting our anxieties for our communities, our families, our churches and our countries will produce the miracle harvest, but once we have cast it on the Lord, we have rolled our burdens that are too heavy for us, on our Lord. He promises us that he will undertake. His timing will be perfect, and the work will be finished and completed perfectly.
The Apostle Paul knew about casting his anxieties on the Lord! He wrote of the anxious times that he and other apostles had gone through: being jailed, shipwrecked, stoned, left for dead, but through it all, God came through for them miraculously. He wrote to inspire hope in the face of death to his congregations who suffered persecution. He explained that through Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross for us, we have died to our old selfish nature and have become the “new creature.” This renewal is the casting off of the old life, like an old garment and dressing ourselves with Christ. This resurrection life that we live on earth is our life unto God, and even if this life is taken, death will not take us away from God. For Jesus Christ has swallowed up death for us in his death and resurrection. Therefore, we need not fear. “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord,” Romans Chapter 14 verse 8. Christ will never cast us away, for he has given us his Spirit, the Spirit of Life and Truth, who prays with our spirit, “Abba, Father!”
Father, we thank you that we can cast ourselves on you, for you save completely! Amen.