After the Worst

After the Worst--July 19, 2017

"I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear." [Philippians 1:12-14]

God, it turns out, is quite clever.

Look, sometimes in this life, it's all we can do to just keep putting one foot in front of the next day by day, but not really having a clue how God is directing any of what we do, work through our words and actions, or using the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  And then, there are other times when, as Paul puts it, our love just “overflows more and more with knowledge and full insight” and we see divine fingerprints on things, nudging and steering us where God intends. 

Well, this is one of those times when Paul himself has seen the curtain pulled back, and Paul has been able to see God’s direction in his life, even through bad circumstances.  Paul has come to recognize in a whole new way just how clever the living God really is--and he sees it in the midst of a situation that would rightfully scare the willies out of anybody.

It turns out that Paul is writing the letter we know as Philippians from prison—or from a kind of house-arrest—in Rome, awaiting trial.  This might seem like a bad situation, both for Paul personally, and for the prospects of spreading the Good News.  After all, Paul’s the star player on the team, and it seems like he’s in the penalty box and out of commission at the present time. If you or I were in Paul’s place, we might just accuse God of having abandoned us, or we might give up on spreading the message of Jesus around, because after all, look where it’s gotten Paul so far!

This is the kind of situation you usually label a "worst-case scenario," right? Time after time in the stories in Acts, Paul gets run out of town and just narrowly escapes being arrested or jailed or killed, and he gets away by the skin of his teeth to do it all over again in the next town, announcing the Reign of God and the Movement of Jesus.  It would seem in each of those close-calls, the goal is to avoid getting caught, because if he's caught, he can't keep reaching people with the grace of God, right?  So if you're Paul, for both selfish reasons of personal safety as well as your bigger-picture goals of bring the Good News to everybody, "getting caught by the Romans" should be just about your Number One Fear.

But Paul has been given a glimpse of how God was working through his situation.  Paul sees that because of his imprisonment, now the message about Christ is spreading like a virus through the whole imperial guard. It is infecting the empire with the Gospel, so to speak, from the inside out.  And Paul can see that because he has been arrested, others have stepped into the fray and begun to speak up.  Others are being empowered to bring the Good News of Jesus—others who will raise up new leaders after them, and another generation after them. And those new preachers and teachers and missionaries would not have found their courage if necessity had not compelled them to find it.  Even while Paul is sitting under house arrest, he is still being used by God to reach others with the news of Jesus.  And on top of that, Rome footed the bill for his transport from Palestine to the imperial capital, and the Roman soldiers who were there to keep Paul in are also going to keep Paul safe from any lynch-mobs around!  All this is possible, on the Emperor’s nickel, mind you, because God is just that clever.

And because Paul sees that, he is able to see beyond the old fog of fear.  He can see that right in the midst of the "worst case scenario" there are new possibilities where before he had only seen the edge of a cliff.  God's provision in the worst helps him no longer to be ruled by the crippling fear of "What if...?"

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "My personal trials have also taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or to transform the suffering into a creative force."  That change of perspective is exactly what Paul had been praying for on behalf of his readers—that their love would overflow with knowledge and insight so that they can see God’s hand and their place in God’s purposes.  And now Paul is the one who has been given that insight for his own situation.  Paul can see how God is using his imprisonment to get the Jesus-Movement to more people—people who will then take the Way of Jesus from the capital, Rome, throughout the empire.  And at the same time, God has got the Romans to pay for it all: the great empire that arrogantly sees itself as eternal ruler of the world is paying for the spread of a message that a crucified rabbi from Palestine is the true ruler of creation!  Paul can see, with a kind of delight at being in on the divine joke, how God is using this situation for divine purposes.  And Paul can live with that, even if it’s not easy or fun to be in prison. It is a question, as Dr. King said, of deciding whether to act with bitterness or to let the suffering be transformed into a creative force.

That’s the other thing to catch about these few verses: Paul can recognize God’s clever designs even when things aren’t going great for him.  Paul doesn’t make the mistake we sometimes do—that God’s will must be whatever is pleasant to me at the moment, or that if I am struggling through difficult circumstances, God can’t be anywhere in that situation.   And we get bitter.  We get anxious.  We slide back into the country of fear.

Sometimes, we recognize God’s fingerprints when our hardships go away—when the sickness is cured, the work-load at our job gets lighter, or the person you’ve had personality conflicts with goes away.  Other times, like Paul here, we can see God’s gracious cleverness as we go through the tough stuff that isn’t being taken away, or that we are not being taken out of.  Paul is still in prison—but he sees God at work in that situation, as others are brought to faith because of where he is.  He doesn’t have to like being in prison, but he does see that God is up to something right where he is.  And that frees him from being dominated by the fear, "What if the worst case scenario happens?  What if the bottom falls out?" 

Before getting to Rome, maybe Paul couldn't imagine any kind of future if he got caught--it was just too scary.  But now that the "worst" has happened, Paul sees the possibilities that may arise on the other side of the "worst."  He doesn't have to be afraid any more.

Today, may we be given such clarity to catch glimpses of what God is up to in our lives right where we are, too.

Lord Jesus, allow us today to see at least in part how you are at work around and in and through our circumstances today, even while we remain in those circumstances.