TUESDAY January 16th
Philippians 4:4-7
‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
Following on from our previous devotion, where Paul had told the Philippian church that he saw everything that happened to him as being advantageous to the spread of the gospel, he reminds them from our verses today to rejoice in the Lord always.
What even in the hard times, Paul? Yes, he would reply And what is more he had already led by example. Remember the time when he had been thrown in prison, a prison that was actually in Philippi, the city from where these believers were from that he was writing this letter to, Acts 16:25 tell us that at midnight, Paul and Silas were praising and singing hymns to God! They didn’t have a clue what was going to happen to them the following morning, but what they did know was that God was in control of their circumstances. Therefore they could and would rejoice!
God is in control! Yes whether we are enjoying a mountain top experience with everything going well or whether we are in a valley experience, God is in control, even when we cannot work out what is going on, he knows what he is doing. And what is more, he is with us, God is alongside us. Therefore Paul says despite whatever, ‘The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’. And as a result we will know ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
So may God help us to ‘rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice’ and as we rejoice learn to surrender everything into his hands, knowing that he will work everything out for those of us who have come to love him and are called according to his purpose.
God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad:
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if he trusted it to me,
I might be sad.
What if tomorrows cares were here
Without its rest?
I’d rather he unlocked the day,
And, as the hours swing open, say,
‘My will is best’.
The very dimness of my sight
Makes me secure;
For, groping in my misty way,
I feel his hand; I hear him say,
‘My help is sure’.
I cannot read his future plans;
But this I know;
I have the smiling of his face,
And all the refuge of his grace,
While here below.
Enough: this covers all my wants;
And so I rest!
For what I cannot, he can see,
And in his care, I saved shall be,
For ever blest.
J. Parker