Strongs Concordance Number:  3199
Transliteration: meló
Phonetic Spelling: (mel’-o)
Definition:  it is a care, it is an object of anxiety, it concerns.

 

Our verse on Monday Meditations this week was I Peter 5:7 and in the King James reads like this…

 

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

 

At first glance we would think that the first care and careth are just similar versions of the same word, but they are not.

 

The word above is the second word, careth or cares.  When it says that the Lord cares for us using this word, it means that we are the object of His concern.

 

Here is the word care as it is in the first part of the verse.

 

Strongs Concordance Number:  3308
Transliteration: merimna
Phonetic Spelling: (mer’-im-nah)
Definition: care, worry, anxiety. properly, a part, separated from the whole; (figuratively) worry (anxiety), dividing and fracturing a person’s being into parts.

 

This word is a noun and was translated to anxiety in the Amplified Bible.  It is similar, but paints a different picture from the first care.  In the first word we are an object of concern or object of care.  Here we see that the care is taken to an extreme.

 

When studying this word it refers to word #3309 which is the verb derivative of this word.  The expounded definition is:

 

drawn in opposite directions; “divided into parts”, “to go to pieces” because pulled apart (in different directions), like the force exerted by sinful anxiety (worry).

 

I have heard many mothers and fathers talk about worrying about their children.  When they are home late at night or don’t call when they should.  There is no doubt that we should care (3199) about our children and the other parts of our lives.

 

But when that care (3199) turns into the care of (3308) it will literally pull us apart in different directions and we will go to pieces.  And, this is sinful.  So let’s insert these meanings fully into this scripture and see what we find.

 

Casting all your anxiety, which pulls you apart, upon him; for you are an object of His concern.

 

When I talk about being carefree and casting all our cares upon the Lord I am often met with someone challenging me saying that we have to care.  But do we take care or concern to the extreme?  When we feel it pulling us apart we can know that we have crossed the line and we must cast that care on the Father, because we are the object of HIS care.

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