19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” The Message reads “You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus.”

Matthew Henry’s concise commentary says this: “Pride, unbelief, vain hankering after something we have not got, and fickle dislike of present things, make men discontented even under favorable circumstances. Let us pray for patient submission, and hope when we are abased; for humility and heavenly mind when exalted. It is a special grace to have an equal temper of mind always. And in a low state not to lose our comfort in God, nor distrust his Providence, nor take any wrong course for our own supply. In a prosperous condition not to be proud, or secure, or worldly. This is a harder lesson than the other, for the temptations of fulness and prosperity are more than those of affliction and want. Through Christ we will have grace to do what is good, and through him we must expect the reward; and as we have these things by him, let us do all things for him, and to His glory.”

The scripture was written around 50 by Paul and Timothy. The commentary was originally written in 1706. Not much has changed with us today. It’s easy to cry out for God when things suck, waiting for Him to bail you out, but not being willing to wait; taking action because you are in a hurry to get what you want and you know better what you need than He does! This ends with typical results and has for centuries. The flip side is to take credit for His blessings and forget about him when things are good and the belly is full. Why do we continue on this well trodden path? What don’t we get about the consistently poor results? I certainly resemble these remarks, but slowly, ever so slowly, I’m learning to wait for God, to learn the lesson he is teaching me at that time.

Repeating the last sentence from the quoted Mathew Henry: “Through Christ we have grace to do what is good, and through Him we must expect the reward; and as we have all things by him, let us do all things for him, and to his glory.” Powerful lessons ignored for centuries and the condition speaks to our natural state of evolution.