Phillipians 4:19 & A Birthday

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

This was my memory verse for the past 2 weeks, and I wish I had spent more time really meditating on it instead of just memorizing it and calling it good. I love this simple promise - that in Christ, all of our needs will be met. There is nothing else in this world that can meet them. 


It seems that in everything I am doing right now God is pointing me to this truth. In my Bible study on the book of Isaiah, both this week and last, the scriptures speak to how powerless idols are. Back in the day, idols were physical things that people made to worship. Today, very few of us worship little statues, but things like money, power, financial security, stuff, relationships, family, cool experiences - we definitely bow down to those things and spend much of our time trying to figure out how to get more because we think those things will meet our needs. But the scriptures say in Isaiah 41:


²² “Tell us, you idols, 
   what is going to happen. 
Tell us what the former things were, 
   so that we may consider them 
   and know their final outcome. 
Or declare to us the things to come, 
 ²³ tell us what the future holds, 
   so we may know that you are gods. 
Do something, whether good or bad, 
   so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. 
²⁴ But you are less than nothing 
   and your works are utterly worthless; 
   whoever chooses you is detestable.


Idols cannot tell us what will happen or what has happened. They can't do anything good or bad. They cannot meet our needs. They have no power in and of themselves.


In my Bible study with the LCA girls we have been reading about the fall of man, when Eve at the apple. And we have been talking about the after affects of the fall. How we now look for things outside of God to satisfy us because our relationship with Him has been broken. We have talked about things that we think we need to have in order to be able to look back at the end of our lives and feel good about them. We all have one thing right now we think we need to give us meaning and purpose and to feel good about ourselves. But when we look back we see that not long ago there was something else we needed, and when we got it, it satisfied for a short time, until it didn't anymore, and then we were on to the next thing. Nothing outside of Christ can meet our every need.


And finally, in the book I'm reading, Searching for God Knows What, which I just wrote about recently, he talks about how life is like a lifeboat that we are all in, but it's too small. So we spend our lives desperately trying to convince everyone why we deserve to stay in the boat, trying to show others what is worthwhile about ourselves, why we are better than others. And again we worship at the altar of good looks or success or whatever else we feel will convince others that we have value. But again it's never enough. And it all boils down to this simple principle:


"And my GOD WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS according to His glorious riches IN CHRIST JESUS."


I think He is trying to tell me something. It's such a simple concept, but so hard when everything else is telling us we can buy something that will meet our needs. We can have an experience, be special or good looking enough. Like most of the other verses I have memorized, I NEED to remember this.


On a lighter note, today is Derek's birthday! Holla! Happy Birthday Derek! So thankful you were born 27 years ago today, and that God has already prepared good works for you to do for His kingdom in advance. I love that I get to share this adventure with you :)