-Paul wanted to send Timothy to Philippi, he hoped to send Timothy to Philippi, but the fact of the matter is that for the time being at least he needed Timothy with him. While Paul was in prison he needed a faithful companion, someone who could help to provide for him. It would not be uncommon for a prison situation to necessitate that family members or friends provide food, clothes, books, etc, for the one imprisoned (cf 2Timothy 4.13). Just as Paul had no one else who would genuinely be concerned about the believers in Philippi, he quite likely had no one else he could count on to be concerned about him there in Rome (cf 2Timothy 1.15-17, 2Timothy 4.11).
-And here we get a glimpse of paul striking a balance between moving forward the work of the Good News and taking care of those who work for the Good News, beginning with yourself. There are sacrifices to be made, yes, and times to go without, yes (cf 2Corinthians 11.23-27). But this was not one of them for Paul. As Christ’s ambassadors we all need to do what we can to at least try to take care of the first things first - my walk with the Lord and spending time with Him, and then food and clothing (cf Luke 10.42, 1Timothy 6.8). Scripture makes it clear that I do not absolutely need anything more than these, but without these I will quite quickly be rendered useless for the Kingdom. The opposite is true as well, that discontentment and pursuit of the things of the world will also render a would-be Kingdom worker useless. So many things we think we need, that we cannot live without - smartphones and bigger open-concept homes and the latest appliances and furnishings and fashion and cars and... the list is endless. We really must learn to be content and focus on what is really important, on what the Lord wants (cf Philippians 4.11, 2Corinthians 12.10, Hebrews 13.5).
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