Daily Devotion – June 4, 2020 – Erin Bjerke
Philippians 4:10-14
10I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. 11Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress.
This passage written by Paul comes at the end of his letter to the church in Philippi, who had sent support to Paul to provide for his needs. Here, Paul mentions that he has lived in a variety of conditions, sometimes with little, and sometimes with much, but he has learned to be content with whatever he has at any given time.
In this time of social distancing and self-isolation, our circumstances are drastically different than they were a few months ago. I seemed to get used to this “new normal” fairly quickly, but now I’ve found myself growing restless and wishing that things could be back to the way they were before COVID-19. I especially miss going to work in the church office and hanging out with friends. Like Paul’s variety of circumstances, this has been a time where many have too little, lacking basic necessities like food, jobs, and shelter. Maybe having too little has looked like this: too little time to accomplish all the tasks placed on us, maybe even too little Internet bandwidth or too little space in our houses. Others of us seem to have too much: too much time on our hands, too much togetherness with our family, too much of the summer ahead of us that’s still up in the air, too many questions that are still unanswered. We’ve probably had too little and too much at the same time!
I pray that in our current circumstances, we can all take a pointer from Paul and find a way to be content. That doesn’t mean we won’t do what we can to make our situation better, or to help others who are suffering. It just means that we will, with the help of the Holy Spirit, look to what we’re grateful for and to what God is up to, rather than dwelling on our misfortune.
Prayer:
God of all circumstances, thank you that you are with us no matter what. Thank you for [insert the things you’re grateful for]. Please teach us to be content with whatever we have. Amen.
