"Therefore humble yourselves 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" (1 Pet. 5:6,7).

What a great comfort this verse is to us as Christians. Knowing that God, the creator and sustainer of all things, cares for us. This is worth more than all the gold or silver or money or anything else that we might possess in this life. When we come upon hard times in life or we lose a loved one or feel compassion for the sick; When we are troubled in mind and in spirit -- even to the point of deep despair -- we can turn to God, our Father, in prayer and let Him know all about it, knowing that He has compassion on us and will ease our cares and troubles in life, giving us the strength to cope because He cares for us.

Of course God already knows of our troubles before we ask, but, being the benevolent Father that He is, to hear it from us means a great deal to Him, not to mention that just sharing our troubles with Him can mean a great deal to us.

Think how God is involved in our lives. He watches over us in everything we do and think. He knows our hearts and all that we might aspire to. He knows all of our concerns and is concerned with us. With Him looking out for us in all things, how can we ever feel down or despair? We can just look to Him and know that everything will work out in the end.

Speaking of which, if we keep our eyes on that blessed goal of heaven in the after while, it will go a long way toward keeping our spirits up and will keep us on the true path of joy and happiness that we need to sustain us in this life.

God cares for us. Think of it: how can anything be more powerful or moving in our lives? To think of the many blessings we have through Him, because He cares for us, is enough to lift our spirits. So we should count our blessings and cast our cares upon God when we have those moments of feeling sad or despair and are in need of the comfort that God provides.

But what if we are not in that covenant relationship with God at this moment in our lives. What if we do not know the comfort that comes through Him? I cannot imagine how someone outside the Lord is able to cope with the troubles of life. Do not they become cold and callous and give up on caring so that they will not feel the pain of life? God does not want us to be uncaring, but rather to lean on Him to carry the load when we feel pain because we care.

Are you in a covenant relationship with God tonight? Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."

To have this relationship with God, we must be in Christ; and to get into Christ, we must be baptized and wash away our sins, which is preceded by confessing that Jesus is the Christ and repenting of our sins. Then, to stay in that relationship, we must devote our lives to doing all that the New Testament teaches we must do, and repent when we do transgress and sin.

If you have a need tonight you can come forward and renew your relationship with God while we stand and sing.

by Doug Pennock

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