Philippians Two and Huey Lewis (when you think about it, that's a pretty cool name)

(This November our church is devoting ourselves to the letter Paul wrote to the church in Philippi. And from last Sunday to this, our congregation is studying, meditating on, and asking God to speak to us through chapter two of Paul’s letter.)

As I write this, I’m listening to a song called “Forest for the Trees” by Huey Lewis and the News. It’s from their 1986 album, Fore! (Perhaps you are tempted to stop reading this altogether now, either because of your judgment of my musical tastes or the fact that I’m gaining even a measure of inspiration for this writing from that song. But please read on!)

The song’s message is captured in these words:

“Things are never as bad as they seem.
You just gotta learn to see the forest for the trees”

It’s not their best or most popular song, by a long shot. But, ironically, its central message seems to be very similar to one of Paul’s central messages in his letter to the Philippians. Paul says that no matter our circumstances (no matter what “trees” we face in our lives), we would do well to always remember that we have an infinite God with an undying love for us and an eternal plan for our lives (that’s the forest).

That plan is one that God set in motion at creation and one that He started fighting to redeem the day Adam and Eve took a bite from the apple. That plan involves you and me.

That plan involves Jesus,
“6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2).


Two versus later Paul reminds us that that same Jesus will do a work of transformation inside of anyone who will submit his or her heart and mind to Him. It’s a transformation that brings hope amid hopelessness, peace amid problems and an ability to see the forest while standing underneath the trees.

That doesn’t mean we’ll always see life as God sees it. Often we’ll find ourselves discouraged by all the trees. But it does mean that when all we can see are obstacles, there is still reason for hope. We can hope because there is another tree in the forest, an old, rugged tree, where the God of the Forest hung for your sins and mine. We can hope because nothing can separate us from God’s love and God’s grace is still sufficient. We can hope because God is in the transformation business, and he can still make any situation we face work together for the good (Rom. 8:28).

And so that does mean, in a very real way, that “things are never as bad as they seem. You just gotta learn to see the forest for the trees.”