What does the Bible say about feeling overwhelmed?

Then there is the sweet comfort: "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." All means all--all cares, whatever they are; all burdens, all anxieties we can roll upon Him, with the perfect assurance that He does care. Alas! our anxieties, our heavy feelings, our worry and our hurry, all speak the same language of unbelief. "Lord, dost Thou not care?" Well, it is if we look upon all burdens He permits to be laid upon us, as tokens of His love, by which we may learn His faithfulness afresh. Instead of murmuring then, we should sing and rejoice, being anxious for nothing, knowing He carries us and our burdens and cares as we can never do.

But of another privilege the apostle here reminds us in connection with being humbled now and waiting for His glory in the day of Christ. He says, "having cast all your care on him, because he careth for you." He assumes this relegation, in faith, of our every anxiety on our God and Father, who loves to bear burdens too great for His weak ones, for whom He has joys and service which demand freedom of spirit for their right aim and end. How enfeebling is the unbelief that fancies it our duty to be weighed down outwardly and inwardly! Why, Christian, have you not rolled upon Him the weight that oppresses you? Is not His word to us plain and certain? Does He not care for you — He that gave His Son for your sins, He that numbers all the hairs of your head?

And the way to cast all our care upon Him, so that we are anxious for nothing, is told us in this lovely verse in Philippians: "In every thing, by your prayer and by your supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God". Sometimes the load of care seems too heavy to cast it anywhere. Then the Lord invites us to "roll thy way upon the Lord" (Ps. 37:5: Margin). When we were children in Canada, in the winter, we would make great snowballs; and when they got too heavy to lift, we still could roll them. So roll that great load of care on Him, "because it is a matter of care to Him, concerning you," as the Greek so sweetly puts it. And in the Greek Testament two different words are used here for care. The one is "anxious, harassing care:" the other is God's loving "providential care" over us.*

Oh, ye dear children of God! are you cast down by reason of the trials of the way? Are you oppressed, and fainting under a sense of your many needs, many sorrows, many achings of heart? Oh, speak to the Rock! Go and tell the Lord Jesus all your sorrows, and all your perplexities; yea, tell Him all — pour out your heart before Him. He will refresh your spirit, lift up your hands that hang down, sustain your confidence, give you wisdom, and show you that He careth for you. He bids you trust in Him at all times — not some times, but all times — therefore speak to Him this time. You may have proved it a blessed thing to speak to Him in times past: oh, speak to Him now! Cast all your care on Him, for He says, He careth for you. Cast every burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you. You need not fear any sorrow, if it only lead you to the Lord Jesus; and every felt need will be a blessing, if it only be a fresh errand to the mercy-seat. Fellow-Christians! the Rock still gives forth His water, and refreshing streams still flow freely to us from our Lord Jesus. It is vain to look elsewhere. Princes cannot help us. Creatures are broken cisterns; and it is written, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help!" and, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." Without Christ we can no nothing; but there is no uncertainty in calling upon the Lord Jesus. "Speak to the Rock, and it shall give forth His waters." Such is the way of blessing; for it is written, "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." In this way only will true Christians be happy, and thus be fitted for the Lord's work; for "the joy of the Lord is our strength."

That soldier of Jesus Christ, of whom I have just spoken, had learned to travel with a very light pack, and perhaps that was the reason that she (for she was a lady-soldier) was able to bear more of the burdens of her sisters and brothers than any other person I ever knew. If we have filled up our own private load that we have to bear for ourselves with all sorts of things of our own, then we cannot expect to bear one another's burdens. We spoke of some burdens from which we are set free — our sins and the law — but there is another burden that is never meant for the shoulders of a Christian, and that is the heavy, heavy burden of anxiety. The Lord says: "Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7. He tells us also what to do with anxiety when it comes, as it so often does, trying to take possession of our hearts: "Casting all your anxiety upon Him, for it matters to Him about you." 1 Peter 5:7. But the word for "casting" here, is not the ordinary word to throw or cast or put; it means to hurl it away, as something we do not want to have anything to do with. It is the word used for the thirty pieces of silver, that became so terrible to Judas that he hurled them back to the chief priests into the inner temple. The Lord invites us to hurl our anxiety upon Him, for it matters to Him about us. If we fill up our pack with anxiety, we will never have any strength left to bear the burdens of one another. Christ is the great Burden Bearer: our sins, our griefs, our sorrows, our anxieties, our every burden, we may cast on Him. May we then learn from Him to make a habit of on the one hand ever bearing one an-other's burdens, and on the other hand, to always bear my own load. In Heb. 10:35 we are told of something we are not to "cast away" (a different word) and that is "our confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." Another has remarked, that too often "we cast away our confidence, and carry all our care."

Art thou, at this moment in any pressure, in any trial, need, or difficulty? If so, let us entreat thee to look simply and solely to the living God. Turn away thine eyes completely from the creature: "Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils." Let thy faith take hold now on the strength of God Himself. Put thy whole case into His omnipotent hand. Cast thy burden, whatever it is, upon Him. Let there be no reserve. He is as willing as He is able, and as able as He is willing, to bear all. Only trust Him fully. He loves to be trusted — loves to be used. It is His joy, blessed be His name, to yield a ready and a full response to the appeal of faith. It is worth having a burden, to know the blessedness of rolling it over upon Him. So the king of Judah found it in the day of his trial, and so shall the reader find it now. God never fails a trusting heart. "They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me." Precious words! Let us mark how they are illustrated in the narrative before us.

“Be careful for nothing.” That does not mean careless about anything; but knowing God as your Father, who cares about the smallest details of your everyday life, you can afford to leave the cares and troubles, and thus your heart has the peace of God in place of the carking care. Peter says, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Many bring their cares to God in prayer, but receive little or no benefit, because they carry them away again instead of leaving them in His presence.

First, “Be careful for nothing.” That does not mean being careless as to anything. We are expected to exercise sufficient, proper, and sensible foresight; but it means we are not to be unduly weighed down with care in the attempt to carry what God would carry for us. There are circumstances beyond our control. The way out is a difficulty we cannot overcome in our own strength. Then leave it with God. He will undertake if we leave all with Him in the sense of His interest and care. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you,” is written in another place.

"Be careful for nothing." I have found that word so often a thorough comfort. Even if it be a great trial, still "be careful for nothing." Oh! you say, it is not my petty circumstances - it is a question of saints going wrong. Well, "be careful for nothing." It is not that you are careless, but you are trying to carry the burden, and so you are racking your heart with it. How often a burden possesses a person's mind, and when he tries in vain to cast it off, it comes back and worries him! But "be careful for nothing" is a command, and it is blessed to have such a command.

"Be careful for nothing." I have found that word so often a thorough comfort. Even if it be a great trial, still "be careful for nothing." "Oh," you say, "it is not my petty circumstances; it is a question of saints going wrong." Well, "be careful for nothing." It is not that you are careless, but you are trying to carry the burden, and so you are racking your heart with it. How often a burden possesses a person's mind, and when he tries in vain to cast it off, it comes back and worries him. But "be careful for nothing" is a command; and it is blessed to have such a command.