1. “Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you” (1 Pet. 5:7; see also Psa. 55:22; Phil. 4:6-7; Matt. 6:25-34).
Men on earth are full of anxiety. They worry about their food and clothing, their health, their future, their children, and many more things. They have no way and no place to go to rid themselves of their anxiety. They can only gain more anxiety; they cannot rid themselves of anxiety. Anxiety is a great entanglement and oppression to humans. However, when we are saved and become children of God, we can cast all our anxiety on Him. By means of prayer and petition, we can cast all our anxiety upon God. Prayer and petition are the means for casting off our anxiety, and God is the place where we can cast it. When we make known our anxieties to God by means of prayer and petition, when we cast our anxiety on Him, inwardly our entire being is unburdened. We are so comfortable, so happy. When we cast all our anxiety on God, He is willing to receive it. He is willing to bear it for us because it matters to Him concerning us. Matters to Him concerning you can be translated “He cares for you.” God cares for us. At all times and in all places, by means of prayer and petition, we should cast our anxiety and burdens on God to free ourselves of the entanglement and oppression of anxiety so that we can be free and happy.
2. “The Lord is my Helper”; “Jehovah is...my salvation; / Whom shall I fear?”; “There is no fear in love” (Heb. 13:6; Psa. 27:1; 1 John 4:18).
Fear is also something people cannot avoid; it is a suffering that is hard to overcome. Who lives in the world without fear? Who can overcome fear? Some fear illness, some fear death, some fear failing in school, some fear losing money in business, and some fear that their children will become bad. If a person is not afraid of one thing, he is afraid of another thing. He is afraid of this life, and he is afraid of the next. People are afraid of many things in the present and in the future because they have lost God. God is man’s Protector; He is the One on whom they can rely. Without God, man has no protection and nothing on which to rely, so he can only know fear. But those who are saved have God as their Helper and salvation, so they can overcome fear. Since God is our Helper, what shall we fear? Since God is our salvation, whom shall we fear? When we have God, we have no fear. As we continue to love God, we will become even more fearless and bold because we will escape the suffering from fear.
3. “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial”; “God...will, with the temptation, also make the way out” (2 Pet. 2:9; 1 Cor. 10:13).
The world is filled with temptations that trap people in sin or cause people to fall. Very few people can meet, overcome, and escape these temptations. But the Lord delivers us out of temptation. If we fear the Lord and live a godly life in Him, whenever we meet with temptation, the Lord will deliver us. When we are tempted, the Lord knows we need His salvation, and He also knows how to save us. Therefore, when we are tempted, He makes a way out for us to escape the troubling temptation so that we can be released.
4. “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28; see also Heb. 12:1).
Before we were saved, we were always toiling and burdened, so we had no rest for our souls. But once we come to the Lord and receive Him as our Savior, He takes our burdens and gives us rest to comfort our souls.
5. “I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11-13; see also 1 Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5).
Worldly people do not have God as their support and satisfaction, so they are greedy for countless things in their lives. No matter the circumstances, they are never content. Their avarice troubles them and prohibits them from finding rest. But we belong to God, and we have Him as our support and satisfaction. Therefore, we do not need to be greedy for the necessities of life, and we can be content in any circumstance. This enables us to escape the troubling of avarice and to enjoy the happiness of contentment and blessing that comes from not being greedy.