Backwoods Bible · backwoodsbible.com
Sunday, November 8, 2026
The reading changes at midnight Central Time, and it stays the same all day.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Plain English
Paul says contentment is something he has "learned." "In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" means he learned to be content in whatever condition he was in. "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound" means he knows how to be brought low and how to have plenty. He was taught "both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need", and contentment is learned in the full house and in the thin one.
Devotional
One month the pantry is stocked, and the next month the shelf looks thin. Paul said he had learned the lesson in both places. He knew how to be full and how to be hungry, how to abound and how to suffer need. Contentment was not pretending the shelves were the same, and it was a peace he learned in whichever state he was in.
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https://backwoodsbible.com/day/2026-11-08