Philippians 4:11-14 – Building Trust over Time
From Philippians 4 –
11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.
My wife and I are venturing out to provide foster care again. The training covers the same basics of attachment we have reviewed before, but something about the presenter's phrasing really resonated this time. Tracing what she called the Cycle of Need, she emphasized, "If we don't learn to trust, we don't learn to rest."
That can't be overemphasized biblically or as it plays out in relationships. Both must be learned, and relearned. The number of times trust is placed or misplaced is irrelevant. Broken faith makes more of an impression on our psyches. We will carry its scars and guardedness going forward into any vaguely similar encounter.
The trainer also spoke more Biblical Truth when she pointed near the end of the cycle. She used an example of a child who learned he could not rely on parental figures to provide his next meal. He learned to horde food rather than trust, and the reaction of the new authorities in his life was to put a lock on the refrigerator. They dealt, the trainer emphasized, with the symptom rather than the underlying lack of trust without which the child could not learn to rest in the relationship.
Likewise, the Father opens the hand of His provision in order to teach us to trust. In fact, in texts like Matthew 6, He sends His Son to teach us to ask, to open the refrigerator, so that trust is built over time. That way, we learn to rest rather than exhausting ourselves worrying about were chasing after the same things that people do who have no faith in God's providence provision. We, as Paul puts it, have LEARNED to be content whatever is in our immediate grasp.
That Philippians 4:14 follows moves this from the cheeky platitude to the community-building practicality. Distress happens. We know God's provision is available. We know the overarching storyline of His provision in our lives. Yet we know there are times when we will feel lack. There are times when it is appropriate for us to express it to each other, and certainly times when we are to be assertive in inquiring about one another's welfare.
There are times, even, when we are to make ourselves vulnerable because there are more pressing priorities than our self-protection. That's what foster care is about for us. It's about sharing the distress of children Jesus said shouldn't be impeded from coming to Him, those whose angels are always before the face of His Father. The distress we have experienced in trying to build our family through a miscarriage, and ruptures in fostering and failed adoptions is real. We have sensed the same affirmation Paul does as our community of faith has rallied around us.
Because we know God has provided emotionally as well as physically, we risk again. Poverty of spirit, if He brings it in the course of ministry, and disappointment, and satisfaction in Him alone, is a blessing. We would know what it is to be in need in that sense, and we would know what it is to have plenty when He pronounces the reward at the end of days which no man, no system can take away. What we do to the least of these, we would do for Him.
11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.
My wife and I are venturing out to provide foster care again. The training covers the same basics of attachment we have reviewed before, but something about the presenter's phrasing really resonated this time. Tracing what she called the Cycle of Need, she emphasized, "If we don't learn to trust, we don't learn to rest."
That can't be overemphasized biblically or as it plays out in relationships. Both must be learned, and relearned. The number of times trust is placed or misplaced is irrelevant. Broken faith makes more of an impression on our psyches. We will carry its scars and guardedness going forward into any vaguely similar encounter.
The trainer also spoke more Biblical Truth when she pointed near the end of the cycle. She used an example of a child who learned he could not rely on parental figures to provide his next meal. He learned to horde food rather than trust, and the reaction of the new authorities in his life was to put a lock on the refrigerator. They dealt, the trainer emphasized, with the symptom rather than the underlying lack of trust without which the child could not learn to rest in the relationship.
Likewise, the Father opens the hand of His provision in order to teach us to trust. In fact, in texts like Matthew 6, He sends His Son to teach us to ask, to open the refrigerator, so that trust is built over time. That way, we learn to rest rather than exhausting ourselves worrying about were chasing after the same things that people do who have no faith in God's providence provision. We, as Paul puts it, have LEARNED to be content whatever is in our immediate grasp.
That Philippians 4:14 follows moves this from the cheeky platitude to the community-building practicality. Distress happens. We know God's provision is available. We know the overarching storyline of His provision in our lives. Yet we know there are times when we will feel lack. There are times when it is appropriate for us to express it to each other, and certainly times when we are to be assertive in inquiring about one another's welfare.
There are times, even, when we are to make ourselves vulnerable because there are more pressing priorities than our self-protection. That's what foster care is about for us. It's about sharing the distress of children Jesus said shouldn't be impeded from coming to Him, those whose angels are always before the face of His Father. The distress we have experienced in trying to build our family through a miscarriage, and ruptures in fostering and failed adoptions is real. We have sensed the same affirmation Paul does as our community of faith has rallied around us.
Because we know God has provided emotionally as well as physically, we risk again. Poverty of spirit, if He brings it in the course of ministry, and disappointment, and satisfaction in Him alone, is a blessing. We would know what it is to be in need in that sense, and we would know what it is to have plenty when He pronounces the reward at the end of days which no man, no system can take away. What we do to the least of these, we would do for Him.
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