Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus".
I was listening to the radio the other day and the host of the show told a story about a man who traveled from town to town preaching the gospel. He took nothing with him but relied on the kindness of people for a place to stay and for food to eat. Upon entering one town he had no place to sleep and no place to eat, so he slept on a park bench and went hungry for the night. He meditated on Philippians 4:19 and came to the conclusion that God determined that he "needed" a good starving for the night.
I sat in my car in utter disbelief at those words. Wow, how crazy is it that God would be the determiner of our needs and not us. I know for a fact that as Americans we read that verse and immediately conclude that God will provide our needs according to what we decide is a need and not Him. Don't we all do that? I know I have. If you don't believe me just think about what you think about when you read that verse. God will provide food and shelter and relative decent health or a job or enough money to pay the bills. That's what we do. In fact in America we have so much that we've gotten very Godly by shrinking our list of "needs" to just the basics - food, shelter, safety, etc... because we want to seem humble and show understanding for what the verse really says. Am I far off? I don't think so.
But if we really look at that verse and look around this world at some of the suffering that we see of God's people we have to wonder if we have our interpretation of that verse correct. I know I haven't had it right. We never look at our trials as "needs" in our lives. And yet God's plan for us is to become like His Son Jesus Christ, so he will do whatever he seems fit or is "needed" to transform us into the likeness of Him. If that means we go hungry for a night or a few days we must look for the transforming presence of God in it. If we go jobless, homeless, suffer ridicule at work, lose a loved one, suffer sickness, or have financial hardship we must look for God's hand in each situation because it transforms us more and more into His likeness. We'll never completely understand God's wisdom in what he does, but I rest assured that He is in control and that He loves me deeply, so deeply that he is working in every situation in my life to make me more into the vessel that He can use for his glory.
I searched to find the man in the story above but could not. But I will be forever indebted to him for bringing a new truth and a deeper understanding of God's word to me.
I was listening to the radio the other day and the host of the show told a story about a man who traveled from town to town preaching the gospel. He took nothing with him but relied on the kindness of people for a place to stay and for food to eat. Upon entering one town he had no place to sleep and no place to eat, so he slept on a park bench and went hungry for the night. He meditated on Philippians 4:19 and came to the conclusion that God determined that he "needed" a good starving for the night.
I sat in my car in utter disbelief at those words. Wow, how crazy is it that God would be the determiner of our needs and not us. I know for a fact that as Americans we read that verse and immediately conclude that God will provide our needs according to what we decide is a need and not Him. Don't we all do that? I know I have. If you don't believe me just think about what you think about when you read that verse. God will provide food and shelter and relative decent health or a job or enough money to pay the bills. That's what we do. In fact in America we have so much that we've gotten very Godly by shrinking our list of "needs" to just the basics - food, shelter, safety, etc... because we want to seem humble and show understanding for what the verse really says. Am I far off? I don't think so.
But if we really look at that verse and look around this world at some of the suffering that we see of God's people we have to wonder if we have our interpretation of that verse correct. I know I haven't had it right. We never look at our trials as "needs" in our lives. And yet God's plan for us is to become like His Son Jesus Christ, so he will do whatever he seems fit or is "needed" to transform us into the likeness of Him. If that means we go hungry for a night or a few days we must look for the transforming presence of God in it. If we go jobless, homeless, suffer ridicule at work, lose a loved one, suffer sickness, or have financial hardship we must look for God's hand in each situation because it transforms us more and more into His likeness. We'll never completely understand God's wisdom in what he does, but I rest assured that He is in control and that He loves me deeply, so deeply that he is working in every situation in my life to make me more into the vessel that He can use for his glory.
I searched to find the man in the story above but could not. But I will be forever indebted to him for bringing a new truth and a deeper understanding of God's word to me.
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