Recipe For Joy

Most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Philippians 1:14

When the great preacher Harry Ironside complimented the cook at a conference center on her biscuits, she gave him a valuable lesson: “The flour itself doesn’t taste good, neither does the baking powder nor the shortening nor the other ingredients. However, when I mix them all together and put them in the oven, they come out just right.”

The same can be said for many of the circumstances in which we find ourselves in life. Limitations, pain, shortages, injustice, failure—none of those “ingredients” are palatable by themselves. But in every case, when the circumstances of life are mixed together by God’s providence, something good results. When the apostle Paul found himself imprisoned for preaching the gospel, it had to be distasteful! Yet the result was that his brethren were emboldened to preach the gospel even more. It is the believer’s responsibility to focus not on the “ingredients” but on the entire “recipe” to see what God is preparing.

If your circumstances are not palatable at the moment, step back and see if you can’t find a reason to rejoice in the end result.

The whole point of the letter to the Philippians is: I rejoice, now you do the same!

J. A. BENGEL