I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

—Philippians 4:13

Philippians 4:13 was the very first verse I chose to memorize. I mean, as far as length goes, it’s a good place for a kid to start, but when I was looking through the memory verse posters pinned on the bulletin boards of the children’s ministry room at my childhood church, this one seemed the most…encouraging.

It’s a pretty popular verse for that reason. It is encouraging, and it can be tempting to think about this verse as if it were saying that Jesus is going to strengthen us so that we will realize our dream of being a famous singer or will be able to finish that paper that’s due tomorrow and get a good grade on it. When we don’t look deeply at the context of the verse, it can make it sound like this verse is about being successful if we ever decide to undertake some great challenge, but if we look at it that way, we miss out on some of the richness of this verse.

Philippians is a letter Paul wrote toward the end of his life. He was in prison. He’d been in prison for a long time already, and there was a very real possibility that his imprisonment would end in death. Timothy was with him, so he wasn’t totally alone, but when the church at Philippi tried to minister to him by sending Epaphroditus to him with a gift, the man who was supposed to minister to Paul became so sick that Paul had to send him back to Philippi. These were dark days in Paul’s life.

Most of us would be pretty upset if we were in Paul’s situation. If it were me, I would probably be depressed, angry, or both, but it’s right in the middle of this situation that Paul writes a letter for the purpose of encouraging the people who had attempted to help him. 

In fact, the verses leading up to verse 13 are dedicated to comforting the people who had tried to help, and the way he decides to comfort them is not by saying that he is well taken care of by the Romans and does not need anything. Instead, he tells them, “Don’t worry. Even if I am going hungry and don’t have the things I need, I’ve learned to be content with just having Jesus.”

Personally, if someone I cared about wrote me a letter saying that, I would not be very comforted, even though one of the Bible’s most encouraging verses comes right after it. But when we look at verse 13 in the context of Paul’s attempt to comfort the church at Philippi, it reveals new layers of meaning in the verse. 

When Paul wrote this verse, he wasn’t saying that we can be successful if we decide to pursue our dreams or try to tackle a challenge no one else has been able to succeed at. Those are big things most of us will face once in our lives if ever. 

Instead, Paul is talking about those run-of-the-mill dark days when life is difficult, and we could use a little light and a little hope. When things have gone wrong and you can’t see how they will ever go right again. When your best efforts seem like they leave you no better off than you were before. When finances are a burden, health is a trial, and your relationships feel like they are in danger of crumbling.

These are days all of us face, and sometimes we have to face them over and over and over again. That’s why verse 13 is such a blessing, such a ray of hope in the darkness. Not because it promises amazing success, but because it’s a coupon for free divine endurance—all that we could ever need—with no expiration date and no limit to how many times we can use it. The only stipulation in the fine print is that we hold fast to Jesus and trust that He will get us through.