A story is told about a villager who got a ride on a lorry. The driver looked back to see him still carrying his load on his head! The villager explained that he was thankful for the lift, but he didn't want to misuse the driver's kindness by making the lorry carry his load too!
If we tell the Lord about our problems in prayer and still insist on worrying about them, aren't we being just as silly? Some of us even justify ourselves saying that our worry shows that we are concerned about the situation. If we didn't worry, wouldn't it show that we aren't bothered about it at all?
When the storm rose up in the sea and the disciples saw Jesus sleeping peacefully, their question to Him was, "Aren't You bothered that we are about to die?" (By the way, Jesus sleeping in the midst of the storm was no indication of His faith but that He was asleep and wasn't aware of the situation! But the fact that He was calm when He suddenly woke up and saw the storm was a mark of His confidence in the Father!) But Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief! This may seem somewhat harsh if we don't understand faith in the right way.
God tells us to cast our anxieties (worries, cares) upon Him, knowing that He cares for us (1Pe.5:7). To do this, first of all we must be sure in our heart and mind that our Father really cares for us, that He knows every detail of what is happening to us, that He is almighty and sovereign to do whatever He thinks is needed for us, etc. Secondly, if we trust Him, we must deliberately transfer our worries to Him.
If we say we have transferred our worries to Him but still worry about things ourselves, there is something wrong. We haven't actually transferred anything, but we are still holding on to the worries because we aren't sure that God is enough. It's really unbelief, isn't it?
This transfer is not about washing our hands off all our responsibilities in the matter. We must be surrendered to Him, trusting Him that He knows what is best for us and being willing to do anything He tells us. Many times, what we need to do is to acknowledge our mistakes and sins and take steps to set things right. We can't palm off that responsibility to God! But once we have waited on God, heard what He has to tell us and done what we need to do from our side, we need to stop worrying.
This has to do with our knowledge of God and our faith in God. This faith is our personal confidence in Him. If we claim to know Him but continue worrying, doesn't He have reason to rebuke us for our unbelief? Without this faith, how can we be pleasing to Him (He.11:6)?
Our encouragement comes from knowing that the disciples who were rebuked many times for their unbelief grew up in their faith to the extent that finally they were even willing to lay down their lives for Him. If we are worriers now, we don't have to continue like that with all our excuses. We can start learning to trust God in real life situations and not merely with our lips.