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Mission to the Philippines
When my daughters and I traveled to the Philippines for short term missions, we fell in love with the country, both for its natural beauty and its resilient people. The two stood in sharp contrast.
The abject poverty of the people living in cardboard and corrugated tin shacks yet surrounded by abundant nature made you believe you were in paradise, a paradox that took some mental and emotional gymnastics to accept. We spent our first week in the city where noise and pollution added to the cacophony of sights and smells, working with dirty children in rags who loved to sing songs about Jesus who cared for them.
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The second week we traveled to the country where the poverty seemed more desperate, and the beauty magnified. We visited house churches in several locations. One day found us on the Taal Volcano, an island only accessible by boat. The main source of income for the families that lived on the island was fishing and running boats between the island and mainland.
Fishers of Men
It was fascinating to watch the fishermen at work. They still used massive, weighted nets called lambat in the native Tagalog language, to catch fish, casting them from the boat day after day in the hopes of catching as many fish as they could to provide a small income for their families. It reminded us of the story of Jesus telling his disciples after a day of no success to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and the nets became so full of fish that they began to break, and how he called them to be fishers of men.
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Casting Our Cares
In 1 Peter 5:7, we read that we are to cast our cares on God because he cares for us. In other versions the word care is interchanged with worry or anxiety. To cast is an action verb, a process that takes physical strength to do. The nets are large and unwieldy, heavy with weights attached and even heavier when full of fish.
In casting the net, the fisherman must let go of all but a cord so there is a wide arc for the net to cover a lot of area.
This imagery paints a picture for us of an action that takes effort, casting or throwing, and clarifies that it’s not just one or two troubles but ALL our troubles are to be cast on God. Why? Simply because he cares for us.
God cares for us and about us.
He is not a stranger to our troubles, our anxiety or our cares. He knows our needs before we even cast them on him. Yet he calls us to give them to him. Throwing ourselves into the safety of his arms, and into the promises of His faithfulness.
Caring for those with disabilities has its own set of troubles and anxieties. As parents and caregivers there are very few days that go by without incidents of some kind. As ministry leaders or program directors, there are also troubles and cares that we have as we seek to advocate, provide respite, and care for those within our sphere of ministry.
God calls us to cast all those troubles on him.
To physically throw those anxieties and worries, those troubles and problems on him, releasing them to fall into his always loving arms simply because he cares about us.
His ultimate care for us came on the cross when Jesus died in our place. But it doesn’t stop there. We are encouraged daily to throw our burdens on Him and let Him care for us. When we read the verse in its context, we see in the first part of the sentence that we are to “humble ourselves under His mighty hand” by casting our cares on Him. We are not made to hold the weight of our troubles by ourselves, we are meant to actively throw them out to God.
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Be Faithful
The following verse should then encourage us to be more faithful in giving our cares to God. It states in verse 8 that the devil is prowling like a lion looking for someone to devour. Could it be that when we don’t cast our cares we are more easily overtaken?
Let’s heed this passage and cast our cares on Him who is able and faithful to receive those troubles and care for all our cares.
Dear Father,
We so often keep our worries and cares to ourselves, thinking they are too small or too big for anyone to help us with them. Thank you for your promise to care for us and for the many ways you have shown your faithfulness by caring for our concerns. We cast them on You and rest in your promises to care for us.
Mary Underwood writes from her blog,” What Empty Nest?” where she seeks to encourage “not-so-empty” nesters who have young adults with disabilities living at home. With her theme of Independent at Home, she encourages parents and their young adult children to confidently explore options for more independence. You can find her at www.whatemptynest.com and on Facebook at What Empty Nest and Instagram @whatemptynester1 or reach out to her at info@whatemptynest.com.
Mary Underwood will be one of the Speakers at our Disability & the Church 2024 Conference in Orlando, FL May 1-3. Go to www.keyministry.org/datc2024 to register now!
