Lesson 27: Joy’s strength
Philippians 4:1-23 – www.bible.com/bible/59/php.4
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.
As we learn contentment (from our last lesson), we discover we have also gained strength in our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ.
In this world in which we live, strength is often defined as being powerful – having power over circumstances and other people around us. But as we know from Isaiah 55:8-9, God’s ways are different – higher – than our ways. We cannot understand God with human understanding. We must see and understand Him only through His Spirit within us teaching us about Him – and believe what the Spirit teaches even when it does not make sense to our human reasoning.
What does strength God’s way look like if it is not power? We must read verse 12 above again to understand. True strength is facing being “brought low” without complaining and wanting “more” of anything but God’s presence. Strength is finding contentment in this “lowly” circumstance. True strength is facing “abounding” without becoming proud or feeling we are better or more blessed by God than someone else. True strength is having plenty and abundance and yet letting go of it without complaint if God asks for it back. True strength is living in hunger and need without asking God if He is angry with us or spending all our time seeking for the things He has not supplied because we think we need them.
True strength is also recognizing it is not WE who are strong, but God in us. We see ourselves as the garden glove which lies unused until the master gardener comes to put his hand into it and begins his work of planting and weeding and pruning and fertilizing and watering his garden to make it beautiful and productive. Our strength is only sure as long as we allow God to use us to do His work through us. Just as the glove by itself has no strength to do any gardening, so we too have no strength to do good without our Master’s hand.
What are we to do with our strength? Romans 15:1 gives us the answer – we have an obligation to those who are weak, to help strengthen them. Rather than judging or being impatient with someone who is weak, we are to help build them up in strength through encouragement and teaching them God’s ways. Strength is never to be used for our own purposes, to gain something for ourselves. Jesus said the one who wants to be the first or greatest can only do so by becoming the servant to everyone (Matthew 20:26-28).
*In what ways has God made you strong?
*How is God using you to help others also become strong?
*In what ways are you still weak?