Needy Abundance
“I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”Philippians 4:12b-13
One of the most popular verses in the Bible among teenagers and young people seems to be “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) and for good reason. It’s quite encouraging to see that young people are confessing that it is indeed Christ who strengthens them, and because He does, they can do “anything.” Although the words spoken by St. Paul is indeed true, one must read and understand them with the intention with which St. Paul spoke them.
To fully understand a certain verse of Scripture, we must see what comes before and after it. Before St. Paul wrote that famous line, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he shared how he has lived through both abundance and scarcity. It is because St. Paul has seen how God has been faithful through the good times and bad that he uttered in faith and conviction, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This doing all things is not a sharing in God’s omnipotence, but rather trusting completely in God’s Divine Providence. Later in the same letter St. Paul writes, “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).
So, yes, we can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthen us, but only in accord to God’s will in Christ Jesus. We can do all things that the Lord is asking of us if we place our focus on Him for He will give us all the graces that we will need to carry out that mission. But all this presupposes that one firmly believes in God and His Providence. Have we experienced abundance in our lives, when everything goes as planned and even better than we could have imagined? How about times when we were in need, when things were not going as we have hoped? Do we believe that God was there with us in both abundance and in need? Do we believe that God provided for us even when it seemed as if we were alone and had nothing left onto which we could grasp? That’s the point St. Paul was trying to convey — that God was there for him and provided for him in both the good times and the bad and because he knows and believes that, he can do all things in Christ and through Christ, who is his strength. Do we know that? Do we believe that?
Where are we in our lives today? Are we experiencing abundance? Are we weathering through difficult storms? Where ever we may be, let us try to see the hand of God in motion, trusting that every abundance is a gift from God and knowing that every need and storm will lead us to shores that we never knew existed. God’s grace may be mysterious, but it is always sure.
