God sets Himself against the proud, but He shows favor to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in His good time He will honor you. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you. (1 Peter 5:5-7 NLT)
While bitterness can be among the most visible kind of spiritual obesity, worry is perhaps the most subtle. We are so used to carrying this weight that we hardly notice it anymore. Anxiety usually tells us something is spiritually wrong and we are taking on weight that is not ours. It can be an indication that there is an idol in our life that we love more than God and His glory, and therefore, when our object of worship is threatened in some way we will fret about it. It may also tell us that there is something or someone we think has more power over us than our Creator.
The passage above ties several things together that relate to worry. First, it reminds us that a common source is our concern over what people think of us, or our “honor.” When we learn to trust God with this our life gets a lot lighter (see Psalm 62:7-8).
Secondly, Peter reminds us that a care-free life requires humility. Proud people will always be anxious people. Only a humble person will be able to give up their yoke of control over their circumstances and yield to God’s rule over them. What we should really fear is pride, not difficult circumstances, because self-sufficiency drives God away, but adversity draws Him near.
Finally, we are reminded that we can completely trust God with our cares, because He completely cares for us. In other words, if an all-powerful Person is also completely and constantly concerned about you, what do you really need to worry about?