A few years ago, a fishing boat began to sink in heavy seas off Vancouver Island. Its two-man crew abandoned ship and took refuge in a life raft. But then they realised that the life raft was tied to the sinking boat by a nylon rope, and was in danger of being pulled under too. But neither of them had a knife to cut the rope, and so, for the next hour, they took it in turns to chew that rope in the hope they could get free. Finally, minutes before the boat sank, they succeeded in chewing through it, and they survived.
Their plight illustrates the situation many of us are in, tied by worry to things that threaten to pull us under, and unable to cut ourselves free. But when the Bible urges us to cast all our cares on God, and to pray about all things, it’s simply reminding us to keep on chewing at that rope until eventually we become free too.