The truth of God’s care is one that we need to work hard to appropriate to ourselves. You are not a burden to God; He cares for you. Allowing this to sink into the very depths of our being will transform us. Our natural tendency since the garden of Eden is to think that God doesn’t care.

Over the last few weeks, I have been involved in a couple of situations with people who have needed care. There comes a certain point in many people’s lives when they need care, and this can result in real concern and anxiety about the future. It is easy to be anxious when you are reliant on others and there is uncertainty; you are no longer in control. On the flip side, there is an enormous privilege in being a caregiver that is often not talked about in our culture, and certainly not valued as it should be. In both cases, Scripture speaks powerfully and with great encouragement to those who are being cared for and to those doing the caring.

As I preached on humility from 1 Peter 5 recently, I was struck that the humble person casts all their cares on the Lord because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:6–7). God is the great Caregiver. The word care that Peter uses is a present tense word—He continually cares. He never stops caring. There are no days off; no days when He is uncaring. It speaks of paying attention to, acting toward, showing concern for, and taking the trouble. That is how God is concerned with His people. Psalm 8 brings this out powerfully:

What is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him? (Ps. 8:4)

When I was growing up, there was a hymn we sang in Sunday school, “God Who Made the Earth”:

God, who made the earth,

the air, the sky, the sea,

who gave the light its birth:

He cares for me.

This theme of care and caring goes right through the Bible. There is a constant refrain to God’s people to “be careful” and to “take care” with regard to God’s commands. Jesus tells us to take care of how we hear God’s Word. He warns that the cares of this world can choke out God’s Word (Mark 4:19). As believers, we are to care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25). The elders in Christ’s church are charged with caring for Christ’s sheep (Acts 20:28).

All these commands are in the context of a God who cares for His children. The fact that He is the great Carer should be a source of enormous comfort to us. In Deuteronomy 11:12, the children of Israel are told of their inheritance, “A land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”

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