Cast My Cares (My Portion)

The Worship Initiative's “Cast My Cares (My Portion),” with Shane & Shane, starts with a promise to hand things over: “I will cast all my cares upon you / I'll lay all of my burdens down at your feet.” The condition is stated outright, “Anytime I don't know what to do,” and the refrain repeats three times so the habit sounds like a decision made in advance.

The middle section turns from burdens in general to a short list of specifics: “All anxiety / All insecurity,” and “my vanity,” each laid “at your feet.” The reason for letting go is a single line, “'Cause you're my reward.” The final stretch changes key, taking the second half of a psalm: “My heart, my flesh, may fail / But you are my portion.”

1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” is where the title and the first verse come from, and Psalm 73:26 supplies the failing heart and the portion forever. Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you,” adds the same promise from another angle.