Here is another one of my personal devos I felt I needed to share.
Like Philippians 4:13, this verse is one that often bothers me because I feel I am misinterpreting Scripture. God has glorious riches, sure. But the verse doesn’t say I get them; it only says He will meet my needs. So what do I have to do in order for God to meet my needs?
As always, I look for context. Here is the verse before:
I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:18 (NIV84)
Yeah, not getting much there.
I went back all the way to verse 13 and kept on reading until verse 19. Then I got it!
14Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. 17Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Most of those verseS are Paul describing what the Philippians generously gave to him, and then he finishes with a single verse about what God will do for them.
Before we can start demanding God to supply our needs (which, for the average American, is probably not a need anyway), we need to give. To demand our needs be met and then not give is to be hypocritical to the highest degree.
More than that, shouldn’t our giving be so great that it takes several sentences to describe? If our giving takes one line while our wish list takes an entire page, isn’t something out of balance? Shouldn’t our giving be so great that it is undoubtedly “pleasing to God”?
Maybe our perception about God meeting our needs isn’t about God meeting our needs. Maybe it’s about us meeting someone else’s need.
