The Wilderness of Hidden Hurts
“You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him, for you are His personal concern.” 1 Peter 5:7 (Phillips NT)
Are you holding onto hidden hurts? We’ve all had them. Hidden hurts have a way of growing within us when we hold onto them. They’ll leave you in the wilderness of pain and despair. You may want to let them go but just don’t know how. Every time you try, the pain seems to creep back in until you feel the hurt again. Hidden hurts knock us off-center. They begin to distort our reality until we view everything and everyone from the scratched lenses of our own suffering. How can you find your center in Christ when you’ve experienced such pain? Whether it was the betrayal of a friend, a divorce, the death of a dream, or a misunderstanding, hidden hurts create anxiety in our hearts and can grow into a root of bitterness.
Peter offers us wise counsel for when we find ourselves in the wilderness of hidden hurts. In fact, with one single action, we can deal with all our hidden hurts - past, present, and future! How? It will require some action on your part. If you’re tired of carrying hidden hurt in your heart Peter tells us …
“You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him, (once and for all), for you are His personal concern.” 1 Peter 5:7 (Phillips/Ampl)
That phrase once and for all comes from the Greek word for “throw” or “casting” as in other translations. The tense of the verb denotes an act done “once and for all”, throwing the whole weight of your anxieties on Christ! Wow! Talk about unloading a burden! Wouldn’t you like to be free of the weight of your hidden hurts? The good news is that, in Christ, you can! Throw the whole weight of them on Christ! He bore our burdens on Calvary! At the cross, He died for all our hurts, habits, and hang-ups! And, if that is not enough, the next phrase offers even more good news! When Peter tells us to throw the whole weight of (all your cares) upon Him, it means the whole of your care, not every anxiety as it arises.
One scholar explained it like this: “According to 1 Peter 5:7, we must once and for all give all of our cares—past, present, and future—to the Lord. We must not hand them to Him piecemeal, keeping those cares that we think we can handle ourselves. If we keep the little cares for ourselves, they will soon become big problems! Each time a new burden arises, we must by faith remind the Lord (and ourselves) that we have already turned it over to Him.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Peter experienced this in his own life with Christ. He witnessed firsthand how much Jesus cared for him when Jesus healed his mother-in-law, told him how to get a great catch of fish, helped him pay his taxes, invited him to walk on water, healed the man whose ear Peter had cut off and even delivered him from prison! There was no problem too great for Jesus’ power to handle and no hurt too small for His concern. Why? Peter says it’s simple – because Jesus cares! You are His personal concern! In the language of the New Testament, this means “watchful care out of personal interest and affection.” The Amplified Bible translates it like this:
“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”
So, what are you carrying right now? What hidden hurt do you need to cast on the Lord? Take a moment right now and give it to God, knowing that He cares for you. Then, thank Him for taking it. You can release the weight of it on His shoulders.