There’s a single verse of an inspirational scripture that I would like to take a closer look at in its context … Philippians 4:13. It says: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” What I am about to share will not make this scripture any less inspirational and encouraging but context is always important to understanding the big picture so that we can glean important insight. On today’s Sunday Spice I will make a humble attempt at making sure that we don’t allow a very vital verse of Scripture to lose the meaning it deserves.
Did you know that Philippians 4:13 is one of the most popular verses to appear in wall hangings, coffee cups, and on Christian-themed merchandise? The verse seems to come to the rescue of Christians who find themselves on the short end of an ability to get things done and where strength to get those things accomplished is in question.
The context of this popular verse includes another pretty familiar verse that says in verse 11: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
This idea of contentment alone might be one of the most difficult things asked of us by God to do. Contentment and its cousin, patience, is not passivity; it is not sitting back and doing nothing. It is resting in God, which for many of us is difficult to accomplish. It is right here at this point in our discussion that we do indeed recognize our need for strength from God. Not unlike the farmer talked about in James 5.
The farmer’s patience, as he waits for seeds to grow, is not the passive acknowledgement that he is only tolerating a life that is at some kind of standstill. Instead, patience is the proactive acknowledgment that God is at work, even when my ability to work is put on hold. A farmer’s patience is not used during times of waiting because he believes the sowing he has done will go nowhere. On the contrary, he waits with anticipation.
Just like the farmer we must believe God is directing things toward a purposeful end content with the fact that we have done our best to sow the seeds as we wait for the results only God can produce.
Contentment is the idea that God has provided everything I need to satisfy my present happiness. This does not mean that things stay a certain way forever. But it does mean that I find God’s strength to do what I must in any given situation.
But Paul elaborates on this idea of contentment in verse 12. “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” These succinct ideas alone stretch the meaning of verse 13 in ways that we often don’t like hearing. Paul experienced hunger and need and things that brought him low. He enumerated some of those things when he described a history of his troubles in First Corinthians 11: “with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[b] in cold and exposure.”
If I published a list of the worst of one my “bad days” I would be embarrassed to compare my list with his. We all have had bad days, but let’s be honest, we can get bent out of shape if the line is too long at the restaurant at which we hope to have lunch; or the price of gasoline edges up too high; or the pastor preaches ten minutes overtime. But let’s understand that it is this kind of context that Paul first paints his “brought low” history where he then transitions into a simple Biblical attitude that he learned on the cutting edge of his many troubles and extreme challenges. What was that attitude? “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Try to imagine with me being in any one or a dozen of the troublesome scenarios that Paul cited that you would not wish on anyone you know. Imagine being in the middle of the discomfort, the exposure, the danger, the lies, the excruciating pain, the sleeplessness, and certainly near death and still find in those undesirable moments, that in some cases stretched out for days, weeks, and months, the strength you would need to make it through.
When the rest of us are just trying to get through the worst of a long day, we must first realize that this idea of “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” first took on its best meaning in the context of extreme challenge. This turns my long day and common superficial troubles into dynamics easily expelled by the strength this verse elevates, the strength that originates with God and that is shared with the people He loves.
So let’s look at the verses I have mentioned one by one and read them all in context to give us a better perspective.
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
I’m Tammy Reneé, and this is Sunday Spice. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed are the people who take refuge in Him!
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