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Devotional for April 7, 2020

God Cares

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)


There is no doubt that, while in many parts of the country and world, the pandemic situation is slowing, even slightly improving, that these are still anxious times. The effects of stay-at-home orders are still evident: children are having to stay at home and are unable to interact with their classmates and friends in person; parents are either having to work harder to balance family and work as a result; many people have been furloughed from their jobs; almost every school will likely close for the rest of the school year, leaving testing, graduations, and college entrances uncertain; stores remain short of certain supplies; older people are unable to leave their homes regularly and have contact with their families; health care access is limited; and the economy in general remains uncertain.

In all of this, it is easy to believe that because we are living in anxious times, that we are simply living in an indifferent universe. It is easy to succumb to the idea that no one cares, especially if everyone else is struggling. Even if the current pandemic did not exist, it would still be easy to start doubting and despairing if anyone cares about what we are having to struggle with. Everyone else seems to have their own problems to deal with, and no one seems to want to care about ours. No one is interested in how we may be suffering, and no one wants to help. It is easy to believe that no one wants to be available to help us through our anxieties. We might even think our anxieties are too trivial for others to even care about. And, we might even believe we are important to no one.

Yet there is someone who cares, who is interested in us, and who is always willing to help us, in every situation and need: God. Peter reminds us today that God always cares for us. He is never too busy with His own problems to deal with ours. He is always available, because He is able to be everywhere at once. He is all-powerful, which means that no problem or anxiety of ours is too difficult for Him to handle. No anxiety of ours is too trivial for Him: everything we are forced to struggle with is important to Him. We are important to Him. He created us, so He cares about us. He even sent His Son to die on a cross and rise again to show how important we are to Him. He is able to handle everything we bring to Him as a concern, and will not turn us away or dismiss us as being irritating. Even as He is being involved and acting in this whole pandemic situation now, He is always able to be active and involved with our struggles and anxieties. He is always there, and He always cares - all we need to do is bring our anxieties to Him to resolve.

Dear God, thank you that you always care for me, and you always care about my life and situation. Help me to give you all my anxieties, knowing you will resolve them. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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