Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Does God care for us? Absolutely. Does He want us to cast our cares upon Him? Yes. But the sentence begins with a command to “humble yourselves”.

Casting our cares upon God is preceded by a surrender of all that we are to His will for our lives. Under His mighty hand we are purified from sin and shaped into the image of Christ. The pain we experience in the midst of our cares works to our good under His mighty hand. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… (2 Corinthians 4:17)

It is for a moment. Surrendered to His purpose, casting our cares upon Him, we are confident that He will with His mighty hand lift us out of our cares at precisely the right moment. We trust His purpose. We trust His plan. We thus surrender to His will. And we know He cares for us.