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

Philippians 4:19.

Paul’s words to the church in Philippi are encouraging and we have clung to them as we have made our move from suburbia to developing nation. We have been the recipients of the blessings that this verse seems to promise and we have gotten to meet the needs of others along the way.

With that said, this verse bugs me in two ways:

First of all, there is a difference between needs and wants. Although I’d like the verse to read “And my God will meet all my wants…” I know it doesn’t and I’m a big boy, I can handle that dynamic between God and I. The more difficult chasm to cross is between Maureen and I. There are wants that she deems as needs and there are needs that I am convinced are wants.

We live a solid 30 minutes and large mountain away from the closest “real” grocery store. Yes, we have tiendas and the Bodegona in Antigua, but they are limited at best in terms of grocery shopping as we had come to know it back in Virginia. As the pantry begins to go bare, Maureen feels the “need” to fill it while I think back to living in an apartment in college and creating some kind of meal from Ramen Noodles, biscuits in a can and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.

Therein lies the problem. Our needs and wants do not always line up with the needs and wants of others. Don’t get me wrong, my understanding of Maureen’s needs was clearly adjusted and we made the trek to Paiz in the middle of the week and have eaten better because of it.  The point is that we all come to this verse with our own view of what our needs are and the goal should be to have that view line up with God’s.

Secondly, I, in all of my honest carnality, struggle with the phrase “according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus”.  I love the glorious riches part because I know that the “cattle on a thousand hills” are His and if there is anyone who can unlock heavenly storehouses to meet my needs, it is God. I just get tripped up by the two words “according to”.  These two can also be translated “as determined by”.  The 12 year old boy in me screams out “Do I not get a say in this?  Why does God get to be in charge of what I get?” As if I am more equipped than my creator to ascertain my needs.

God gets to be in charge because He is in charge, period. The more that I know Him, the less I sound like a kid screaming for another scoop of ice cream and the more I can rest knowing that God who created me, loves me, and knows my needs is alive and well and desires to meet my needs.

This was cathartic for me, thanks for letting me ramble.

(Todd)