Philippians 1:1-26, Psalm 139, Genesis 50:20

Liz Dumain reflects on the things we don't understand in life that God is using for good

Liz Dumain

Paul is in prison. Prison then was not like today; people in prison got no food or care, so he needed to rely on the gifts of others - money, bringing food in etc. Paul wasn't a paid evangelist; he was a tent maker who had a fulltime job to earn money and planted churches in his spare time. People supported him financially. While he was in prison he would have had no money coming in. He was totally dependent on the generosity of people like the Philippian church, who sent money and one of their people to another country to deliver a gift. He incidentally got ill and nearly died in the process; just because you're doing a great God thing it doesn't mean everything is always plain sailing!

One of the overall themes in this letter can be summed up as 'beginning, middle and end': by which I don't mean a structure for an essay or a talk or even the letter itself, but something huge about the nature of God.

Paul promises us that what God starts, he will see through to completion. God is beginning, middle and end. He is with us in the beginning, during the middle and at the end. In the beginning as we are created by him - remember that beautiful passage in Psalm 139 where it talks about God knitting us together? If you ever have a wobble about who you are and whether you should have been born, go back to that Psalm and absorb every word of God's promise that you were so very wanted.

God is a 'completer finisher'. God completes things he starts and can be trusted at the beginning, middle and end. Verse 6 promises us that the God who has begun a good work in us will complete it. In the tiny: the God who created you will never leave you, even if you have a good old try at leaving him! But also much bigger than that: the God who created the universe, watched as humankind rejected him and did everything he could to bring us back to him and he will complete it one day. In the moment that heaven and earth trembles at the return of King Jesus; when every tear is dried, every life examined; then every moment of grace comes together in completion.

Paul is in prison, which for an evangelist teacher must have seemed like a disaster! Why would God let someone who he had called to travel around spreading the good news of the Kingdom be confined in a small place with almost nobody to talk to. Had something gone wrong?

Paul is able to think bigger; bigger than what his present circumstances seem to be indicating; bigger than what is going on in his little life. Paul is able to think bigger because he is so confident in what he had seen God do in the past, that he doesn't give up. He has no doubt that despite how wrong the situation might be, God means it for good. In prison Paul had two choices: he could sink into grumpy depression, bemoaning his lot, raging at the circumstances and convinced that his life's calling was being thwarted, or he could trust that God meant it for good and then look for how that might be happening, and join in.

Do you remember the story of Joseph in Genesis? Joseph's dad recognised there was something special about him and singled him out, which really ticked off his older brothers. His dad even made him a special coat and then his brothers were REALLY ticked off. So they did the obvious thing. They pushed him into a well and sold him as a slave. Joseph ends up as the trusted slave of a rich man, who's wife comes on to him, is offended when he resists, so falsely accuses him of molesting her. Joseph ends up in prison, is saved by interpreting a dream for Pharaoh and as a result lands a great job and becomes very rich. Meanwhile back on the family farm things aren't going so well. So the brothers end up having to buy corn from Joseph, who they think is dead. Eventually they discover who he is and when their dad dies they are afraid that Joseph will take revenge on them, which it would have been very natural for him to do. But when in their fear they come and confess all, Joseph forgives them and says, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good". Genesis 50:20

In prison Paul was surrounded by guards and influential people who heard and responded to the gospel he preached. God meant it for good.

Wherever he has put you God means it for good. If you are home all day, how is God being glorified through your relationships with your neighbours? If you are at work, school or college how is God's character shown and glorified through the way you talk and work and speak. If you love your life how is God glorified, if you don't - how about then? God means it for good. Sometimes it's hard for us to see the good, but when circumstances press in on us do we rail against God and others or do we look for how we can be part of God's plan for good? Do we even remember that God could mean this for good? Sometimes it just doesn't make sense, but God always means it for good.

When Jesus hung on a cross, beaten senseless, deserted by his closest friends, taunted by people who wanted him to prove who he said he was by calling down angels, and was then crucified, it didn't make sense. How could this be good? God with skin and bones on, come down to fulfil all the prophesy about God wanting his people to be forgiven, saved and having a new start in life by being reconciled to him - dead. How could that be good? They meant it for evil and when the world went black, it looked like evil had won. And yet, on resurrection Sunday, Easter day, Jesus, God walking around, risen from the dead, proving he is who he says he is! A new start was available to all; a life in the arms of the God who created the universe. It is a life of meaning and purpose available to all. God meant it for good.