Trust God to Take Care of You!

And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].

Mark 8:34 (AMPC)

For quite a few years, whenever I read today’s verse, my first thought was, If I do what it says, then what about me? Who will take care of me? I felt that if I obeyed this biblical teaching, I would never get anything I wanted, and I simply wasn’t willing to live that way.

However, as I grew in my relationship with God and fell more and more in love with Jesus, I finally wanted to obey this scripture. I learned that if I stopped trying to take care of myself and surrendered all to the Lord, He would take care of me. That’s exactly what God promises to do in 1 Peter 5:7:

Casting thewhole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries,

all your concerns,once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you

affectionatelyandcares about youwatchfully] (AMPC).

Living a lifestyle of casting our care on God and trusting Him requires faith. Faith is the evidence of things we cannot see and the proof of their reality (Hebrews 11:1). It is the assurance and belief that God loves and cares for you, and because He does, that He will do marvelous things in your life as you trust and wait on Him.

The truth is, God does a much better job of taking care of us than we could ever do, and He will do special and surprisingly good things for us!

There are also times when He may allow us to go through some difficult situations, and “What about me?” will rise up in our thinking again. When this happens, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about what is happening or He has stopped helping us. Although God doesn’t cause suffering or hardship, He will allow us to endure it at times. These occasions can actually be good for us because it’s during the hard times in our lives when we grow closer to God and mature spiritually. What we think is our worst enemy can actually turn out to be our best friend.

Are you ready to surrender your selfish “what about me?” attitude and trust God to take care of you? Can you trust that God’s will is better than yours? Learn to relax and learn to let God be God in your life. Give Him a chance, and He will prove His faithfulness to you.

Adapted from the book What About Me? by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2024 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Let’s Pray: “God, Your Word says that if I forget about my own interests and do what You’ve called me to do, You will do more for me than what I can even imagine! Help me trust You enough to do that with ease. Give me faith to serve you wholeheartedly, not thinking about what’s in it for me. Please help me grow into a mature follower of Christ. Amen.”

Family Activity: Cast your cares! Write down the things that make you feel anxious, then crumple up the papers and throw them away as a symbol of your trust in God. Allow Him to take care of your needs as you focus your attention on seeking and serving Him. Record what happens as God reveals His faithfulness to you!