Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Why do we resist humbling ourselves? Well, the Bible would suggest to us that there is a connection between our pride and our anxious worry.

Peter writes to us:

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5 NASB95, emphasis added)

Notice that a part of the command to humble oneself is to cast all our anxieties, that is, our fretful worries, onto God. Why? Well, what is worry? Worry is our feeble attempt, as sinful and finite creatures, to rule the universe. We are anxious because we think we should control this or that. We want to be in charge. We think we know what’s best, and so we want things to go our way. Such thinking exposes a deity-complex that is at the very root of sin.

When we forget God, we tend to take His place. This sinful pride leads to worry. And worry leads us to double down on trying to take God’s place. It’s a vicious cycle.

Now, God doesn’t respond to our sinful anxiety by shaming us but by assuring us. “Cast all your anxieties upon Him!” Why? “Because He cares for you!”

We see the same thing from God through the prophet Isaiah:

"Do not fear, for I am with you;

 Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

 I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

 Surely, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

~Isaiah 41:10 (NASB95)

God doesn’t just say, “Don’t worry!” Rather, He says, “I am with you.”

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Isaiah 41 (NASB95)

8 “But you, Israel, My servant,

  Jacob whom I have chosen,

  Descendant of Abraham My friend,

9  You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,

  And called from its remotest parts

  And said to you, ‘You are My servant,

  I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;

   Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

   I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

   Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;

   Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,

   Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,

   Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;

   I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.