"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (KJV)
"My God is very rich with the glory of Christ Jesus. God will use his riches
in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. " (English Version for the Deaf)
Although we may not consciously state it, what we really mean is . . . God will supply what I think I need because I have asked Him to. Unfortunately, this thinking leads us into deep doubt and even anger when God does not supply that need.
For example, when we are sick, we pray to be well and when God does not deliver the health we think we need, we become frustrated and angry because God is not supplying. When we are burdened by the cares of this world, we ask God to lighten our load and when He does not, bitter thoughts cloud our minds and our vision of Him is obscured. When we need money or a job, we ask for His provision to come in a tangible way and when the days pass and no provision comes, we become afraid and struggle to find a reason for God's neglect. With each "failure" of God to provide, we grow more and more mired in the Slough of Despond and like Christian we cannot find our way.
I have often found myself in this bog of bitter despair, wondering why God would leave me helpless. I have measured God's bountifulness by tangible evidence and attempted to explain away what I see as His lack of care. "God must have a reason for this." "Faith is not faith unless it's in the dark." (Please don't misunderstand. I know these statements are true, but there is more.)
God has promised us what we need and that is exactly what He gives us. But all the while He is providing, we are focused on finding an explanation for what He has not given. We measure our needs by the health, wealth, and happiness the world sees as success or prosperity. If we are not healthy, we are not blessed. If we are not wealthy, we are not blessed. If we are not happy, we are not blessed. But God has not promised us health, wealth or happiness. He has promised us and gives us what we NEED, but we miss the opportunity to be thankful for His provision because we don't see it. We miss the stepping stones out of the Slough of Despond just as Chrisitan did because we are looking at the mire.
God has sent Help to me just as Help came to Christian, Help in the form of understanding that my need is often only known by God, secret even from me. And He IS PROVIDING all the while I am focused on what I see as lack of provision. What I need is not always tangible. What I need is not always temporal. What I need is not always something I can see. But what I need is ALWAYS provided.
To understand God's provision, I must continually focus on His face because in His face I see the magnificance of His glory wherein lies all that I need.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
I can't say this any better than Oswald Chambers does.
It's been there all along. I've read those verses a million times. I'm sure I've read them consecutively as well. But suddenly I've seen and understood what should have been so obvious all along.
The verse out of context is "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Memorized and quoted for years on end, to students, by students, for students and family and friends. But in what context? Generally as a key to success. A hard speech? "I can do all things . . ." A difficult relationship? "I can do all things. . ." An impossible task? " I can do all things . . ." But what is the context?
Let me give it to you in the English Version for the Deaf -- simple is good.
Philippians 4
12 I know how to live when I am poor. And I know how to live when I have
plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens. I have learned to be happy when I have enough to eat and when I don’t have enough to eat. I have learned to be happy when I have all the things I need and when I don’t have the things I need.
13 I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.
In other words, the doing of all things is not succeeding at all things. The doing of all things is the being able to have nothing or have everything as the Lord shall choose or being able to be nothing or be something as the Lord shall choose. If my failure brings God more glory than my success, I can fail and honor Him because He will give me the strength to bear the failure. (That is assuming of course that I have done all I can to prepare for what I am asked to do and the failure comes through no fault of my own.)
I can be nothing by the measure of the world, I can have nothing by the measure of the world, I can endure anything for any amount of time while in the world as God requires because He gives me strength.
I'm learning.