Philippians 4:19 — But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Over the past few days , as I’ve been thinking about how God designs us, builds us up and then — in the person of the Holy Spirit — occupies us, I have been reminded again and again of how God provides for us. From time-to-time, I find myself contemplating this beautiful verse the comes near the end of Paul’s love letter to his beloved Philippians.
Paul has been praising the Philippians for their generous financial support and now he turns to their own needs. He’s got nothing to give them but knows God never lets anyone be the poorer for taking care of His servants. Paul was so sure that the Philippians’ needs would all be satisfied, because he knew that his own had been.

The way this connects to my thoughts of the last few days is the realization of a definition of what the verse means by “all your need”. Of course I’ve known — if not forever, then for a long time — that God provides for my needs and not for my wants. What I hadn’t really understood is what my needs really might be.

You see, I can reel of a list of “needs” … In fact various well-meaning professionals have been doing it for quite a while. One list is provided by Professor of Political Economy Ian Gough and Professor of Medical Ethics Len Doyal in their book, “A Theory of Human Need.” Their list has the following categories: Adequate nutritious food and water, adequate protective housing, a safe work environment, a supply of clothing, a safe physical environment, appropriate health care, security in childhood, meaningful primary relations with others, physical security, economic security, safe birth control and child-bearing and appropriate basic and cross-cultural education. I disagree (sharply!) with some of those items … but I could provide a similar list of my own. What I now realize is that any such list misses the point!

So what is the ‘all my need” that God will supply? Quite simply, it is all that is necessary and sufficient to complete building me up to be the exact reflection of God’s perfect design for me! Hard though it might be for me to accept, a time of hunger or loneliness or insecurity might be exactly what I need!

God will provide through his riches. In another letter, to the Ephesians, Paul says a little about what those riches are:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)
God will give me all I need — mercy and grace — to make me the man He means me to be. And how will He do it? He will do it, as He does everything, in glory. He will do it, as the passage in Ephesians says, through Jesus, because we are in Jesus.
It is a wonderful thing to think of. God, out of His infinite resources, will give me whatever I need through the agency of His perfect Son, to mold me in His image.