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The Skill We Never Ask God to Teach Us
🎧 Today's devotional — listen while you start your day
It's Friday night. You're trying to wind down, to finally exhale. Then your phone buzzes. It's a text from a friend: 'Hey, that advice you gave me last week? It actually worked. Thank you.' And for a second, you feel that little hit of satisfaction. That warmth of being right, of being helpful. You replay the conversation in your head, feeling competent. Feeling.. full. And there's nothing wrong with that feeling. But it's a slippery one.
I know how to abound. — Philippians 4:12The Briefing
It’s such a strange phrase, isn’t it? 'I know how to abound.' Paul is saying he learned how to have more than enough. And honestly? We spend most of our lives learning the opposite. We learn how to get by. How to stretch a paycheck. How to make do when things are lean. We have a thousand strategies for scarcity. But what about for prosperity? We just assume that’ll be the easy part. The vacation. The finish line. But the Bible seems to think that the full cup is harder to carry than the empty one. It’s a more dangerous test. Adversity can clarify things,it forces us to depend on God. Prosperity, though… it can make us forget we need Him at all. It’s a slow, quiet anesthetic. A good job, a healthy family, a paid-off car,these blessings can become a kind of insulation from the God who gave them. We get full, and we forget Him. We get satisfied with earth, and we start thinking we can do without heaven. I keep turning this one over in my mind. Paul says he was instructed in how to be full. It was a divine lesson. It wasn't natural. Human nature, when it abounds, turns to pride. It’s an acute spiritual sickness that looks like health. The flesh gets full, and the spirit gets lazy. The only cure isn't to have less. It’s to have more of God's grace. It’s a heart transplant, really,learning to see every good thing not as a reward we’ve earned, but as a gift we get to manage for the King. That’s the skill. It's not about what we have. It’s about what we do with what we have. Paul learned to carry abundance with a steady hand because he was loaded with the ballast of grace. He knew that the good times were just as much a place to meet God as the hard times. Maybe even more so, because that's when our gratitude is tested most.
⚔️ Your Mission
One specific thing to do before the day gets away from you. The best way to handle abundance is to give it away without anyone knowing. So today, practice anonymous generosity. Pay for the coffee for the person behind you in line, and drive away before they can thank you. If that's not where you are, find a task at home or work that someone else dreads,and just do it. Don't mention it. Don't leave a note. This isn't for credit; it's to remind our own hearts where everything comes from."Almighty God, forgive us for how easily we forget You when things are good. Teach us the skill of being full. We surrender our successes, our comforts, our moments of feeling like we have it all together. Let them be reasons for gratitude, not pride. Show us how to hold Your gifts with an open hand, ready to give them away. Help us to need You just as much on the mountain as we do in the valley. In Jesus' name... Amen."Tomorrow’s Eb, in your inboxOne short devotional each morning, audio included. Unsubscribe any time.
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Read the records of the community below.TimothySeptember 28, 2026That idea, concerning a skill we overlook, seems particularly pertinent. Such a quality of quiet receptivity, a patient attendance, echoes the spirit one finds in certain ancient manuscripts. I was just considering a mediaeval Psalter this morning, observing its marginalia, whilst the bells of St. Mary’s called out the hour. It is a slow, almost forgotten grace, surely.
Yours faithfully, Timothy
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Scroll to keep listeningWhat Philippians 4:12 actually says
I know how to abound.Philippians 4:12
Paul wrote this about learning to live through life's extreme highs and lows. The full verse mentions both having next to nothing and having more than enough. This line, "I know how to abound," is about the second part: handling prosperity.
It might seem strange, but handling success is often a harder test than handling hardship. When things are going well, it's easy for people to become proud, spiritually lazy, and forgetful of God. Paul is saying he's learned the difficult skill of managing abundance. He knew how to have a lot without letting it corrupt him.
In modern terms, the full thought is something like this: "I know how to get by on little and I know how to live with a lot. I've learned the secret of being content in any situation, whether my stomach is full or empty."
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That skill. Never asking. But it must be built, yes. Slowly. Like good wood, it needs time and care to hold its shape.
— Isaac