22 Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55 NIV
22 Cast your burden on the Lord [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail). AMP
22 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
topple into ruin. MSG
I read this verse in David’s Psalm 55 and was encouraged by it. (Peter, quotes the same words in 1 Peter 5:7, also to believers who are enduring trials.)
David tells us the effect that the wicked are having on his life;
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me. Psalm 55
David is overwhelmed by the threats of his enemies and he goes on to wish fly/flee to a place of rest and security (don’t we all in time of trouble).
David does ask God to intervene against the wicked who are at work in the city; (the enemy focuses his wicked works on centres of human population)
9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
In verse 12 David changes tack, he now admits that a close friend has turned against him;
12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshippers.
It’s bad enough when we have external enemies attacking us but when those who were once close friends turn against us it’s doubly difficult to bear. David ‘remembered the times of sweet fellowship at the house of God’ and they grieved him. Jesus was attacked repeatedly by religious rulers, but perhaps betrayal by his own disciple, Judas, was the hardest to bear.
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon (Daniel sought God earnestly)
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
David was earnest in seeking God in his difficulties, he diligently turned to God in anguish and sought His help with the problems he faced. Many of David’s psalms begin in anguish and then he comes through to praise and trust. When we sincerely seek God He’ll often send us words of encouragement along the way to sustain us in trials.
22 Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
23 But you, O God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you.
May God bless and strengthen you in any difficulties you face today.