I’ve realized that forgiveness and favour have something in common.
Favour isn’t a one-time deal. It’s a feeling, a state you constantly choose to give upon others. One day you look favorably upon someone, and then the next day you make the choice to look favorably upon the same person. Favour, like forgiveness, is not a one-time transaction. It’s an ongoing contract.
I’m only thinking about this based on whatever I scribbled yesterday, regarding charis and chesed. Without looking at those notes, we discovered that favour was one word – probably the only word in common between the two words translated from Greek and Hebrew, and we talked about how, when you look at the definition of favour in the MW, you could come to the conclusion that as a noun, favour is (1) approval and liking, and (2) kindness beyond what is generally expected.
We could wake up each and every day giving thanks, knowing through His Word that of all things Christ paid a great price for us to have, this also includes the Truth that God likes us and approves of us, and He is kind towards us, beyond expectations.
We pulled up how this gives even more depth and a wider perspective on what it means in 1 Peter 5:7, where the apostle says that God always cares for us.
Today, I feel I ought to talk about the first part of that verse – ‘Casting all your cares on Him’; The KJV/NKJV translates it as ‘cares’, but the majority of other versions translate it as ‘anxieties’. The AMP mentions ‘casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him’, implying that anxieties are actually just part of the cares we could cast upon Him.
I thought I’d look at what e-Sword has to tell us regarding the word used for ‘cares’ and ‘anxieties’, but I think we also ought to do a couple of things before that: (1) Looking at the context, and (2) examining what word is used for ‘casting’.
- See, up until now I’ve preferred quoting this verse on its own, but the truth is there’s even more context for us to pull up, especially considering that 1 Peter 5:7 is (obviously) a continuation of 1 Peter 5:6, which is actually the first part of the sentence: ‘Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time,’; Now, that was from the AMP version, and it adds more to the entire thought; Off the bat I’d say that we cast our cares upon God in humility and recognition of His might. Also, while our motivation to do so (cast our cares upon Him) also is because ‘He always cares about us’ (in 5:7), it’s also in order for Him to ‘exalt (us) at the appropriate time’.
- The Greek word used for ‘casting’ is epirrhipto / ep-ir-hrip’-to / to throw upon (literally or figuratively): – cast upon. Another reason to be real with the Lord – or at least, as real as we could possibly imagine. No need to beat around the bush. Throw it on Him. Interestingly, while Gary Valenciano would have us sing ‘Cast your burdens upon Me’ in one of his more Christian hits, the NKJV (and actually all of the other versions are pretty unanimous on this one) indicates that in Matthew 11:28, Jesus really says, ‘Come to Me’. Either way, friends, this gives us another look at just how we are favored by God: Much so, that we could cast/throw our burdens to Him… or just come to Him.
And we come to Him, with our cares… or, our merimna / mer’-im-nah / From G3307 (through the idea of distraction); solicitude: – care.
Did you see that? We come to Him with our cares… and while many a preacher or elder would tell us to ‘go to the quiet place’ and ‘spend quality time’ with God with the connotations that we shouldn’t be distracted (by the world, i.e. turn off your phones and devices and get to meditating) – God does us a solid by telling us to cast EVEN our distractions to Him. The way I see this is, we come to Him, even WITH our distractions. We come to Him with our ‘solicitudes’, and of course I had to look that up; We come to Him with our ‘care(s) or concern(s) for someone or something’
Friends, Christ and His finished work have guaranteed that as part of our salvation, we could come to Him, in awe, gratitude and humility, with all our distractions and concerns for ourselves, as well as our cares for other people and other things.
We have our weekly prayer meetings on Wednesdays and I usually round up all the men together, listen to their requests and pray for them… But yesterday I had to ask one of them to pray for me, because I had my own concern – That is, that I’m just overwhelmed by it all (just this thing called life), and not in a good way. Of course it was a general request and I didn’t bother to get into the details, but as a checkpoint of sorts, I feel I could give more details here… of the cares in my mind, the anxieties to cast. And lemme tell you, the word ‘anxiety’ is pretty spot-on.
There’s separation anxiety and the consequent thoughts that linger, bringing up the mistakes of the past, questioning the stability of my immediate future, and taking its toll on my present state. This, on top of the present performance anxiety, impacting me by way of intimidation – the operative word being ‘timid’, looking to short-sighted comfort rather than solutions that would put me at ease in the long term. Separation anxiety with all its regrets, performance anxiety with the paralysis of analysis, and the condemnation that ensues, whaling on me and keeping me from taking the necessary steps… Bringing me to just drop everything, pick up the guitar and sing out loud; modern-day psalms (compositions) for this generation. Worship, pray, write, repeat. Worship, pray, write, repeat.
I suppose I should be thankful, that I’ve been reduced to this, considering all the grandiose plans I’ve had in my head before all of this came crashing down. See, I’m writing again, and reading again.
And on that note, I think it’s appropriate that we continue going down Psalm 118:
Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
We come to Him, casting our cares upon Him… And we call on Him, and we know He listens because He not only answers, but He sets us free. With this said, I join the Psalmist – I agree, the Lord is on our side, and He is our Helper (as Christ says the Holy Spirit is our Helper); With all that’s going on, and with all we’re weighed down with and distracted by, the statement to say, as we continue to place our trust in the Lord: ‘I will not fear. What can man do to me? I shall look in triumph on those who hate me’.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
In God we trust. Better to take refuge in the Lord, rather than placing our trust, or primarily relying on men, and ‘princes’.
All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
KJV translates ‘I cut them off’, simply as ‘I will destroy them’; Interesting, considering my understanding of ‘cutting off’ is separating myself from them, or cutting ties. Perhaps we’re to consider that destruction is not without separation; That even if we are surrounded by those who would call themselves our enemies, our separation from them is the first step towards their destruction. This is mostly rambling at this point and more than anything I’m just being led more to casting our cares on the Lord, more than figuring out how to destroy ‘nations’ (Or ‘Gentiles’ and ‘heathens’ if you pull up the translation).
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly, the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
See, the focus here is not on our situation, but we’re brought back to setting our sights on who God is, and what He does.
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
This was one of the verses that my Mom kept telling my Dad to ‘declare’ and to ‘claim’, during the times he was sick.
The LORD has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
And here I am reminded, that in all the anxieties I’ve mentioned, and all the burdens I’m enduring… that I am, in all of this being disciplined – this is most likely the opprobrium mentioned as part of the ‘charis’ we receive from the Lord. But I am reminded of what Dr. Farley tells us – That this discipline is not punishment for our past, but it is training and preparation for our future. Not to say that I should fear the future, but to emphasize that this is precisely how we are loved in the present – well taken care of completely, we’re given discipline in addition to direction.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.
The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
I’m sorry but I think I’d like to look at the rest of Psalm 118 some other time.
What I’d like to share today is that we’re sure to have our own share of troubles. Life is like that. But even in our darkest of days, we have reason – not only to be still, but to rejoice, and not only to rejoice, but to sing out in praise! For indeed, we have a good God, whose steadfast love, whose mercy, whose charis and chesed for us endures – forever!
By the power of the Holy Spirit, this is how I choose to respond, in spite of all that’s going on. I pray you are encouraged, just as I am encouraged.
God bless you!
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