In the Christian life we experience both night and day. According to Genesis 1, night comes before day. When Paul was abased, he was in the night, and when he was abounding, he was in the day. Just as day follows night, night in turn will follow day. This means that after the night of abasement came the day of abounding. Paul realized, however, that this day would eventually be followed by another night. We cannot change the principle of God’s universe. In the universe there is night and day, day and night.
The Christian life does not stay on one level; it has many ups and downs. It is normal to be up and down, down and up. It is not normal to remain on one level and not experience ups or downs. Likewise, it is not normal to experience day and not night. Whose spiritual day is two hundred hours long? I do not have such days. I have nights as well as days, downs as well as ups. However, our account should be balanced: the ups should equal the downs, and the debit should equal the credit. When we have such a balance in our experience, we are normal.
According to the Lord’s sovereign arrangement, we need both the ups and downs in order to experience Christ. I thank the Lord for all the valleys through which He has taken me. But with the valleys, there have also been hills. The Christian life is not one vast plain; it is a land with many hills and valleys. It is by the hills and valleys that we experience Christ.
Young people, do not dream that your life will be level and plain. On the contrary, you will face many valleys and many hills. You will encounter all kinds of circumstances. But in these circumstances you may apply Christ as your secret and experience Him. It is crucial that we learn to apply Christ.
Earlier we pointed out that in verse 12 Paul uses the puzzling expression “in everything and in all things.” What is the difference between “everything” and “all things”? We experience one thing at a time. We cannot experience all things at once. Therefore, according to our experience in time, it is everything. But after a long period of experiences has gone by, the everything becomes all things.
We need to recall that the book of Philippians was written according to experience. In time we experience one thing after another. This fact is denoted by the word everything. But after a prolonged period of experience, the everything becomes all things. The words in everything refer to a particular time when we experience a certain thing of the Lord. The words all things refer to a broad range of experiences over a period of time. Paul could say that both on a particular occasion and on all occasions, both at a certain time and throughout the course of his life, he had learned the secret. Paul experienced Christ moment by moment. On the one hand, he experienced Christ in particular things at particular times. On the other hand, he experienced Christ in all things and at all times.
What a blessing it is to receive such a word concerning the experience of Christ! I hope that the young people especially will realize how blessed they are and will pray, “Lord, even in my youth I desire to seek You, pursue You, and experience You in the way presented in the book of Philippians. As far as the normal experience and enjoyment of Christ are concerned, I want to be today’s Paul. I do not seek to be a great apostle, evangelist, or a worker for Christ. But I do desire to be a normal Christian experiencing You and enjoying You in everything day by day, even in all things, for my whole life.” May we all aspire to enjoy Christ to such an extent.