Not In Advance

For years a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer was on my office desk. It read: “God will give us all the power we need for any situation, but he never gives it in advance lest we depend on ourselves and not him alone.” Can you support that statement from Scripture? I don’t think so. But, I found his comment helpful because my own experience tended to verify his thought.

When everything seemed to be set, organized and in place I could slip into depending on myself and I  felt not much in need of God’s deliverance.  But when the outcome was far from certain and my own plans looked like they might very well be inadequate, I was acutely aware of how much I needed God’s intervention. Feeling the result could be disastrous, but looking to God for help, I found him coming through and demonstrating his faithfulness.

The people Moses led out of Egypt would have welcomed visible forces coming to join them well before they got to the Red Sea. Without getting that type of strength in advance, they felt vulnerable and terrified. But “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’" (Exodus 14:13-14).

We generally don’t like last-minute deliverance, but that is he type that God often chooses to give.  There must be a reason.

Focus Scripture

Philip. 4:10-23

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

14Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. 17Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.