(8) Strength in Suffering Series
The last passage we studied in Philippians ended with the statement, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). This win-win mentality is God’s gracious gift to those in Christ. How do you know everything is a going to be all right? God tells you, from the eternal, big-picture viewpoint, that everything is going to be all right, no matter what happens to you in this life.
Paul is under house arrest in Rome. His thoughts, when he writes to the Christians in Philippi, are influenced by oppression. He’s been exercising his patience in this long wait, spending day after day with Roman officers whose job is to hover over him and cause him to feel his condemnation looming. But Paul knows he isn’t condemned by God, so his reflections are all about the good that will come. He wants to know what God has in store in the big picture. He’s not fretting over what the Roman emperor will do.
“But if to live in the flesh,—if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not. But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better: yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide, yea, and abide with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith; that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.” Philippians 1:22-26
Paul knows God is in control. The laws and the edicts of that magnificent Roman capital hold no sway when it comes to God’s plan. Paul questions whether he’s going to be executed or set free, but not in a hopeless, morbid way. Paul thinks about what he personally wants. Does he want to go to heaven or to continue helping his Christian siblings? He can’t choose. He will be happy either way.
This servant of God looks to the future while he is suffering and is looking forward to the results of either end. He doesn’t dwell on his impatience for his imprisonment to come to some conclusion. He doesn’t dwell on the horrors of losing his life under Roman condemnation. He doesn’t dwell on the bad things that can happen to the Christians in the churches he’s praying for and trying to help. He feels these things; he knows th
ese things are pressing him, but he doesn’t dwell on them. He sets his mind on the good that is coming.
For the lover of God, God is all good things. God is all right things. So, in God, everything, including this hard time, is going to be good. In God, it’s going to be all right.
Meditate on some verses that bear out this Christian perspective.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“If God is for us, who is against us?” Romans 8:31b
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquers through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:37
“Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.” James 5:11
“For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5
Don’t lose heart in this hard time. Dwell on what’s coming in your future with God and know that you are already victorious in Him. He says it’s going to be all good and all right.
The next verses will teach us about suffering and the bonds of relationship.