Hope and Help For the Trials of Motherhood: Part 4

A Mother's Peace


"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." (1 Peter 5:6,7)


Motherhood is full of anxieties. We start off waking up multiple times a night just to make sure that the newborn is still breathing. Then we try our very best to guard them against harm by installing all kinds of child safety locks (often more effective at keeping parents out than kids!) and by guiding their every move at the playground. If they go off to public school (or any other activity away from home), we may anxiously await their safe return at the end of the day. We fear the teenage years, we fear the learner's permit, we fear that they might meet the right person, we fear that they might never meet the right person. And in between, we worry daily about all kinds of minute details of their lives and ours.


But not only does humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand mean that we are content with the circumstances He is currently placing into our lives, it also means that we are not anxious about the circumstances that He may, or may not, bring into our lives in the future, whether that future is later today or 20 years from now. We are not seeking to control our circumstances on our own by continually mulling over the possibilities, by rehearsing a thousand different ways to deal with the unknown future, by trying to pull ourselves through the scary situations of the present by the strength of our own fear. Temptations to anxiety are ever-present, but we must fight those temptations if we are to submit ourselves to God's rule in our lives.


Just as with contentment, it would be easy to write a whole book on anxiety (and it's been done, I'm sure). But I want to keep this manageable, so I'm going to focus on 1 Peter 5:6-7 here.


Peter gives us two things as the antidote to anxiety in this passage: one of doing, and one of knowing.


1) DO: In the first part of verse 7, Peter tells us to cast our anxieties on the Lord. We are not strong enough to carry the weight of fear and anxiety, but God is. And He is not only able to carry our burdens, He WANTS them. He tells us over and over again in Scripture to give our load to Him. The future is not ours to control (and if you think about it honestly, do you really want to live in a future controlled by sinful man?). We don't know what's really best for our lives, but God does. So the safest place for the future and all our anxieties about it is in God's hands. "Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22). Note also, that we are not to reluctantly hand over our burdens, we're not to quietly slide them over to God when no one is looking to see that we're really not in control. Peter (quoting David) tells us to CAST them! Use all your strength, all your will, all the Spirit's power at work within you, and toss that anxiety toward God and as far away from you as possible!


And what does it look like for us to cast our burdens on the Lord? It looks like prayer. Whether it is concerted prayer alone in the quiet of your room for an hour, or (more likely for the mother of young children) a fairly quick prayer offered up in the middle of running after a child or washing the dishes, perhaps the same prayer offered up 20 times over the course of the day, pray all your anxieties to God. In fact, don't wait for a quiet opportunity (though when you do have time for quiet, pray long and hard). When you feel anxiety creeping in, don't carry it around, don't wallow in it, don't even entertain it. Take that anxiety to the Lord and cast it on Him immediately! It only grows bigger and harder to cast the longer you hang on to it.


And Paul tells us, in Philippians 4, that the prayer we offer against anxiety is not only to be a prayer of petition and supplication for help and peace; it is to be a prayer of thanksgiving. Just as we remind ourselves of God's mercies when we're tempted to discontentment, we need to remind ourselves of God's mercies when we're tempted to fear and anxiety. 


And why?


2) KNOW: Peter tells us in the second part of verse 7 that we do this because we know that He cares for us. I think the majority of my anxieties come from not believing that God loves me and is working for my good. I fear that He will send terrible things to me as punishment because I don't fully believe that Christ took all the punishment for me at the cross. But the Bible is very clear that God DOES love us, that our punishment HAS been dealt with, and that God ONLY gives steadfast love and mercy to His children all the time.  


And sometimes I don't take my "small" anxieties to the Lord because I assume he cares about me, but only really about the big things - my salvation, decisions about who to marry, or a big move, or a life-threatening illness. I assume that such a big God couldn't possibly care less about whether I get a nice meal together for company, or whether my child catches a cold, or whether the car repairs are more expensive than I was expecting, or whether I have enough hours in this day to finish my "to do" list. I don't take those worry-producing thoughts to God, because I don't think He cares enough. 


But the Bible tells believers that God is our father. A parent cares about the "minutia" of their child's day. If I love my kids, I'm not just thinking about where they'll go to school, or who they'll marry, or whether they will trust the Lord. I don't just leave them to tend to all the other details. I make sure they have matching clothes to wear, that they have good food to eat for each and every meal and all the snacks in between. If they stub their toe, I kiss it better, even if it's just a little toe. I brush their hair and cut it when it gets too long. I teach them their letters. I make sure their math worksheets get done. If I skipped one of these activities for just one day, would it kill them? No. But I love them, and desire their comfort and their good, so I care for their little needs all day long. And when I am walking in the Spirit, I am doing all these things not begrudgingly, but with love and pleasure. 


Well that is how God the Father treats us, only He is completely perfect and holy, so he ALWAYS cares for EVERY detail with love and pleasure.  Matthew 6:25-34 tells us that we aren't to worry about little things like food and clothes because God even cares for what the birds eat and the flowers wear, and how much more His children!


When we are tempted to believe that God doesn't care for us, we need to meditate on Scripture. This is the God who controls our past, present and future:


"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;he will exult over you with loud singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)  


"For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)


"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may exult in you. 
For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:11-12)



"All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies." (Psalm 25:10)


"How precious is your steadfast love, O God.
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings." (Psalm 36:7)


"But I will sing of your strength;
    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress 
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
    for you, O God, are my fortress,
    the God who shows me steadfast love." (Psalm 59:16-17)


"For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you." (Isaiah 43:3-5)


"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)


Are you tempted to be anxious today? I know I have been! Let us together remember to cast those anxieties on God, and to rest in His unending care for our every moment.