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Cast Your Cares on Him
Peter teaches believers how to relate to one another and how to respond to pressure. In these verses, humility, trust in God’s care, alertness, and firm faith are closely joined together in practical instruction.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
This part of the letter addresses younger ones and then all believers. Peter gives linked commands about humility toward others and humility before God, about handing worries to God because he cares, and about staying watchful while facing an adversary and shared sufferings among believers in the world.
1 Peter 5:5–9Main takeaway
Believers are taught to humble themselves, place their worries on God because he cares, and stand watchfully firm in faith.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Humility among believersPeter first tells younger ones to be subject to the elder, then broadens the instruction to everyone.
Explanation
Peter first tells younger ones to be subject to the elder, then broadens the instruction to everyone. All are to clothe themselves with humility and subject themselves to one another. The supporting reason is the quotation: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
02Humility before GodThe passage then speaks directly about a believer’s stance before God. They are to humble themselves under his mighty hand.
Explanation
The passage then speaks directly about a believer’s stance before God. They are to humble themselves under his mighty hand. Peter adds that God may exalt them in due time, so this humility is presented as trusting submission to God’s power and to God’s timing rather than their own.
03Casting worries on himVerse 7 shows a practical expression of humility before God. Believers are to cast all their worries on him, not merely some of them.
Explanation
Verse 7 shows a practical expression of humility before God. Believers are to cast all their worries on him, not merely some of them. The verse gives its own reason for this action: he cares for them. The command and the reason stay closely linked in the teaching.
04Alert and steadfast under pressurePeter calls believers to be sober, self-controlled, and watchful. He describes the devil as an adversary who walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Explanation
Peter calls believers to be sober, self-controlled, and watchful. He describes the devil as an adversary who walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. So they must withstand him, steadfast in faith, remembering that other believers in the world share these sufferings.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01In verse 5, what instructions are given first to younger ones and then to all believers?
List the commands in order: what younger ones are to do, then what all are to wear and do toward one another.
02What reason does verse 7 give for casting all worries on God?
Use the exact reason stated in the verse itself.
03Which command words in verses 8 and 9 show how believers should respond to the adversary?
Find the words about clear thinking, alertness, and resisting, then connect them with steadfast faith.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
1 Peter 5:5–9
5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility and subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,
7casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.