“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.”
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4: 12-13
This statement made from Paul was only gained by experience. He tells us that the strength he has-Christ in him-is a victorious strength over anything he has faced, or will ever face in this life. He didn’t learn this by study or revelation but by experience. It’s the study of scripture that brings us to truth, but it’s a practical experience that brings the truth in scripture truly alive. There is a great difference in the person who says “I know this is true” from scripture, and in the person who says “I have learned this is true” from life, a huge difference! Let’s look at when Jesus told the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of the sea. They encountered a fierce storm…
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.
But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Mark 4: 38-39
On the beginning of the journey it was… ”I know,” and at the end of the journey it became…”I have learned.” The point is that people who have experience have more weight in their speech than people who just have knowledge. God sends people beforehand to be tangible witnesses to others who are coming after them. They can tell those who are going through their own personal trials that what God says He will do is what He will do, and who He says He is – is who He is! There is a supernatural grace given by a Sovereign God that is available to those who are willing to come to him and trust him. A great example of this in the Bible is Joseph…
“Moreover He called for a famine upon the land. He sent a man before them–Joseph–was sold as a slave.
He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.” Psalm 105: 16-19
The Lord tried him, you can even say God “was working” in Joseph… not for himself but for myriads of others, and ultimately to save the nation of Israel. This is a treasure found in darkness. This treasure cannot be put into the hands of an untested vessel that has unformed character. We don’t have the strength of character to represent Christ until Christ forms Himself in us – unless He becomes our only supply. This doesn’t happen until we have been broken. Most of the time our life is shut down on the outside, and this is because God performs spiritual surgery on the inner man.
So let me suggest that you really give this some thought… The mercy of God will send you and I through first, to prepare us to be able to dispense God’s kindness and the compassion of Christ. We’ll be able to lead others to the source of that supply not as somebody who just knows, but as somebody who has learned.