Now you see it, now you don't—Phil 4.13
Frustration and all that goes with it and can grow out
of it (including depression and resentment) comes when our eager
expectations are consistently not met. You see this in Christians a lot
when you would think that they’d be the happiest people in the world.
Well...that’s saying too much—is it not?
But look at this. In Philippians 4:13 Paul says, "I can do all things
in him who strengthens me." And then in 4:19 he says, "And my God will
supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus."
What are we to think of such claims? I know what we’ve done with them
for ages. Let’s see, we make "all things" all things (why wouldn’t we?)
and we make "can do" of immediate effect (why wouldn’t we?) so that
there’s nothing the believer can’t do. Sensibly we don’t apply "all
things" to matters outside of living for God and furthering his purpose.
I can’t turn scrap iron into gold, for example, or sprout wings and
fly. We rightly sniff at such nonsense and feel sure that Paul’s
experience, while it’s unlimited in its area, should be restricted to
life before God. That makes sense. But in what way does it make sense?
God would rather that I did not sin and since he is in me to enable me
to do "all things" then it should follow that I can be sinless. No? Why
not?
Now imagine some poor soul that’s plagued by a particular sin. Let’s
make it one of the ones we usually zero in on. He repeatedly falls to
sexual temptation or maybe he can’t keep his gossiping mouth shut. He
reads Philippians 4:13, or more probably, he hears the preacher going on
about it, and he thinks, "there’s nothing I cannot do because God
strengthens me so I ought to be able to control my mouth or my desires."
But he continues to fail when he tries to get control of his blabbering
mouth or keep his hands to himself. How does he explain that? How does
the preacher or teacher explain it?
Well certainly God offers the strength to overcome the sin but we
must want it. [Hmmm. That sounds like a bit of fine print that you have
to use a magnifying glass to see in Philippians 4.] What is our failing
sinner to think? If he wants the strength to overcome the sin, then he
gets it. But the fact is that he’s been wanting this overcoming strength
for years so why doesn’t he have it? The answer’s obvious, isn’t it? He
mustn’t really want it. [Ah, I see. The fine print has fine print.] Yes, but our struggler has always thought he really
wanted it; he’s wept sore over it and prayed fervently against the sin,
as he pursued purity or mouth-control. Perhaps, but it takes more than
prayer to access the overcoming power of God. You must purpose and act
on preventing the reoccurrence, maybe even set up a protective network
of friends. [So, the text isn’t nearly as simple as it looks. In fact,
it’s a bit of a scam to quote it as if it were that simple—"It’s simply a
matter of trusting that it’s true."] Well naturally it’s not that
simple. But our struggler didn’t just trust and pray, he purposed and
set up hurdles against the usurper, even went for counselling and such
like—all to no avail. What now? More fine print?
Well, God doesn’t always answer prayers in an instant. How about
within a week or a month or a decade, or what about half a life time?
And so we add caveats to qualifiers and "buts" to plain affirmations.
Before we know it Philippians 4:13 is hardly recognisable as the passage
we smilingly (and glibly?) quote; the passage we quote with something
of an implied demand in it (since Philippians 4:13’s true, you need to
behave and make no excuses!).
Sometimes we think that biblical texts are spoken/written in a
vacuum. But this simply isn’t true. Existential realities are assumed as
Paul and people like him speak or write. They know very well that
there’s no such thing as moral "magic" and they know very well that acts
of sin are all tangled up in the vast network of a human’s experiences,
fears, shaping, emotional pre-dispositions, habits and felt needs. They
know very well that a recurring sin isn’t cured without a change in the
struggler’s inner structure. The act may be effectively blocked by
numerous hurdles built against it (a good thing too) but it’s hardly a
cure. Since they know all these things and assume them all as true even
while they write, we mustn’t quote them as if they were stupid or
sheerly simplistic. We need to stop promising instant transformation.
Instant coffee, instant oats, tanning creams, maybe—but not instant
transformation.
So does Philippians 4:13,19 mean nothing? No, that can never be true,
but it’s time we stopped dabbling with texts; it’s time we stopped
quoted verses that are rooted in other rich complex truths as if the
verses stood alone. Stop promising things God didn’t promise! We lead
masses to think that God has promised this or that and when he doesn’t
come up with it serious self-doubt is generated in the believer who
begins to think he doesn’t truly want God’s will. Or resentment is
provoked against God who, it appears, won’t keep his word.
So does Philippians 4:13,19 mean nothing? Certainly not! What does it mean then? Work with it!
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
