May 19

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.—1 Peter 5:7.

DO I endeavor, habitually, to obey this command of love, and cast all my care on the Lord? Or do I allow needless anxiety; and fear the possible troubles of the future, which may never come; and brood over the little worries of life till I nurse them into great ones? And if so, is not this a practical distrust of God's providence, and a practical disbelief of his ability and willingness to care for me? Do I ask for grace and faith, in this, as in all things, to be enabled to take God at his word?

He that will watch providences, will never want providences to watch; and he that will trust Providence will find he has a richer and surer inheritance than all the world can give. *

We do not avail ourselves of the riches of God's grace. We love to nurse our cares, and seem uneasy without them. We are commanded to cast them on the Lord; but even when we attempt it, we too often take them up again, as if there were a kind of merit in being burdened. We are like travelers who receive the divinely offered pass to heaven, and then take up our baggage upon our own shoulders, and toil on in the way afoot.

Who would be God's, must trust, not see;

Not murmur, fear, demand;

Most wholly by him guided be,

Led by his loving hand;

Must turn where'er he leads, nor say,

I wonder where he leads the way.