I do not know if you have ever experienced this before, but when I was a kid, I would love to go to a full-service gas station. It may seem like something out of a movie today, but there was something exciting about pulling into the station, the attendant coming to the window, and saying, “Fill ‘er up!” As a matter of fact, my wife and I visited New Jersey one time, and I jumped out of the car to fill ‘er up, and I thought I was in big trouble. Apparently, there are no self-serve gas stations in New Jersey, and the attendants were not amused by the guy from Michigan. Almost every time we would pull into the station, we would have a big need for fuel. If we did not get any gas, we would soon be on the side of the road and have no way to get where we needed to go, and they would fill ‘er up.
1. Have you ever been to a full-service gas station? What do you remember about it?
2. Are you the type of person who gets gas before you need it? Or are you a person who arrives at the station running on fumes?
The promise from God to provide comes from Philippians 4:19. It reads, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” When I started studying this verse in the Greek language, it read, “But my God will fill up all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Greek Interlinear). When I read this, it made me smile, and it reminded me of arriving at the gas station because of my need, and I said, “Fill ‘er up.” God is making a promise to fill up our needs. According to “Got Questions,” we know that God’s “providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe.” We understand that God directs all aspects of our lives. Grudem states, “It is amazing to see the extent to which Scripture affirms that God brings about various events in our lives. For example, our dependence on God to give us food each day is affirmed every time we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ even though we work for our food and obtain it through entirely natural causes. Similarly, Paul, looking at events with the eye of faith, affirms that ‘my God will supply every need’ of His children, even though God may use ordinary means (such as other people) to do so.”
3. What is the difference between “supply” and “fill up” your needs?
4. Do you see how God can fill up your needs by using natural causes or using other people to fill up or meet your needs?
5. When circumstances are bad, do you believe that God is in control? Do you believe that He will fill up or supply your needs?
The backstory is that the Apostle Paul was in need, and the Philippians came through with very generous gifts from very poor people. Paul writes in verse 18, “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” In response, Paul relays this promise from God. We can see that this promise is connected to God’s people, and this promise is connected to giving people. Hughes writes, “We see that this promise of supply is for generous people like the Philippians and cannot be claimed by those who live for themselves.” God would provide for them just like they had provided for Paul.
6. Do you see the importance of living for Him instead of living for yourself?
7. Many people argue that they cannot afford to be generous because they need to provide for themselves. Does this seem contradictory to you? How does this fit with this promise?
It really is a huge promise to supply every need, but if God does not supply it, then maybe it is not a need. Sometimes, we look at our needs as only physical needs like health, wealth, food, and clothing, but what about joy, steadfastness, endurance, peace, and courage? We need to be sure that our desires are needs.
8. God makes a promise to supply your needs, not your greed. What is the difference?
9. Do you see a difference in these two statements: God will supply your needs out of his riches or “according to his riches.” Is there a difference? Why or why not?
Romans 11:36 gives the promise, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Hughes writes that this promise “is exceeded beyond all imagination by the lavish ‘wealth’ of the eternal God, who dwells ‘in glory’ full of ‘riches’ made available ‘in Christ Jesus.’ God’s ‘riches’ are inherent in his being as the Creator and the God of the universe.”
10. Do you struggle with this promise from God to provide? Why?