Philippians 4:12 - Life is like a box of DARK chocolate

"I am having learned both to being humbled and I am having learned to being abounding.  In everything and in all things I have learned the secret, both to being filled and to being hungry, both to being abounding and to being lacking." 

-There is indeed a secret to being satisfied in life.  Because for Paul, like most people not born into privilege, there are seasons and circumstances of plenty, and there are times of paucity.  And even for the wealthy, there is that hunger of soul with which all men are acquainted.  Somehow Paul had arrived at the place where he could say enough no matter his circumstances.  He says he had learned the secret.  The verb is mueo, and it only only occurs here in the NT.  The root refers to something that is closed or shut.  It is the idea of being initiated or instructed into a mystery, into that which is closed to those not so initiated.

-To be sure, life is like dark chocolate - which is an initiation unto itself.  I'm thinking that the chocolates in Forrest Gump's box were DARK chocolate.  There is a bitterness that actually enhances the flavor, and learning to appreciate the combination actually unlocks an entire realm of enJOYment.  But not everybody has been initiated into the understanding of the superiority of that which is more bitter and yet much more flavorful.  The bittersweet truth of life is that sometimes the Lord gives, and sometimes He takes away (Job 1.21).  Sometimes there are seasons of plenty, and sometimes there are seasons of scarcity.  Nevertheless, blessed be the name of the Lord.  Surely, it is better regardless of your circumstances to enjoy peace with the Lord that is grounded in the awareness that He is both sovereign and good, than to have prosperity and good fortune and yet not enjoy peace (Psalm 37.16, Proverbs 13.25, Proverbs 15.16, Proverbs 16.8, 1Timothy 6.6-10).

-Much of it revolves around how you learn to define the idea of ‘need’, and at what level you decide to set that.  Paul points out that all we really need is food and clothing (1Timothy 6.8) - we can learn to be satisfied and content with that.  Those who are intent on acquiring much more than that will be “pierced with much grief” (1Timothy 6.10).  But I don’t think we’re talking about a kind of monastic asceticism or buddhistic detachment that rejects possessions and pleasures altogether.  Paul tells us the secret of contentment in the next verse...