Anxiety - Pt 3

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. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV).

There are those few times when the ESV does not punctuate as carefully as I would like. Our reading today is one of those. It, along with the New International Version and the Revised Standard Version, puts a period at the end of verse 6 and make verse 7 into a new sentence. "Humble yourselves . . . Cast all your anxiety on him." I believe that break obscures the connection. The New American Standard Bible and the King James Version don't have a period. The original text did not start a new sentence with the thought of verse 7. It is part of the sentence in verse 6 and continues with a participle: not, "Cast all your anxiety on him . . . ," but," …casting all your anxiety on him." Let me substitute what I think is a better translation: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Notice the significant difference: It is not "Humble yourselves. And cast your anxiety." But: "Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxiety." The point is that casting your anxiety on God is somehow part humbling yourself. Casting your anxiety on God is crucial if you are going to humble yourself under God's hand and clothe yourself with humility toward each other. Casting your anxiety on God is not simply a separate thing that you do after you humble yourself. It's something you do in order to humble yourself, or in the process of humbling yourself. There is something about humbling yourself under God's hand and humbling yourself before other people that makes casting all your anxiety on God necessary. Or to say it another way, there is something about casting your anxiety on God that makes humbling yourself under God and before others possible. It looks like humility is a threat that causes anxiety. And if we are going to be humble with God and with each other, we are going to have to cast our anxiety on God. That's the connection between verse 7 and what goes before. "Clothe yourselves with humility toward each other and humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God by casting your anxiety on God." This is where we find strength for our suffering. By the way, the byproduct of this sequence is relationship rather than competition. The Scripture teaches us the wisdom of strength in community: And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12). How we fight is just as important as why we fight!