Read 1 Peter 5:6-7 Growing up, I was always one of the better basketball players in my school. I would play every day during school and sometimes after. I had gotten pretty confident until, one weekend, I was playing at the playground in town and a friend brought their cousin to play. Within a couple of minutes of playing, the new guy had blocked my shot, drained a three pointer in my face, and crossed me over so badly that I nearly fell down. I realized that day, that I may not have been as big of a deal as I thought I was. To be humbled means to be “lowered in condition, importance, or dignity.” That doesn’t sound like anything any of us would want. We all want to be in a better condition in our life, have more importance, and more respect. However, Peter says in today’s passage that we are to humble ourselves under God’s mighty right hand. Why would anyone want to do that? Why would we want to lower our importance? Peter says that we should humble ourselves because, if we do, God will lift us up. He continues to say that we should, similarly, cast all of our anxiety on him, because He cares for us. We like to think we are a bigger deal than we are. We also like to think that our problems are bigger than the average Joe’s. We approach the anxiety in our lives like it’s the most important thing in the world. Your anxieties may be difficult or even huge in comparison to your ability, but God can handle it. God wants us to give them over to Him, so He can lift us up because He cares for us. There are so many voices around us telling us how dark things are around us, but what if, all along, we’ve been ignoring God’s voice that’s saying, “I got this.” When we humble ourselves by admitting we can’t handle everything on our own and give it to God, He’s got us. We just have to have the right approach. REFLECT: What voices add to your anxiety or stress? What voices reduce your worry? How can you put yourself in better position to ensure that the voices you listen to are the right ones? PRAY: What are you anxious about right now? Spend some time in prayer today giving those things to God. That may seem weird, but actually tell God “this makes me anxious, this is why, I’m trusting you with it.” // TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS // Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:
- What was the best part of your day?
- What was the toughest part of your day?
- Where did you mess up today?
- Where did you see God today?
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