Great Expectations?
By
Susan Klein
“You
expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.”
Haggai
1:9a (NIV)
I’ve been listening to a friend share her woes. She is (understandably)
discouraged by the behaviors of some of the teachers and coaches in her child’s
school. She is also heavy-hearted about her job situation. No amount of
consoling from friends can lift her from the valley she is in. However, there
is One who can.
In my fifty-plus years, I’ve become a seasoned veteran of
having unmet expectations. We will all disappoint and all be disappointed.
After all, every pair of feet on this planet holds up a sinner. So, why do we
expect a ragamuffin to act like a princess? Why do we expect a person who has
no hope in Jesus to behave like one who does? We carry unmet expectations in
our pockets everyday. We have expectations that our teachers will give the best
quality of education to our children. We expect the clerks at the grocery store
to greet us cheerfully. We expect our children to do what we tell them to do,
and our husbands to love us like Christ loved the church. Admit it, you have
expectations!
And, what about God? We go to Him with our pleas, expecting
answers that we’ve already determined are the right ones. If He met our limited
expectations, we’d miss out on seeing His amazing hand at work in the most
unlikely and powerful ways. We expect Him to eradicate all the suffering in the
world. If He did, how would His strength be made perfect in our weakness? We’d
be self-sufficient sinners, not needing a God to turn to.
Yep, in my estimation, expectations are overrated. They tend
to end up in the trash like so many other products that promise and don’t
deliver. There are, however, some expectations we can confidently bank on. We
can expect that all of God’s promises are “yes.” We can expect that no prayer
will go unanswered, and that God will provide a way out when we are tempted. We
have the assured expectation that if our hope is in the saving work of Jesus
Christ, we will spend eternity with Him in a better place, and in a new and
glorified body. We should expect that evil is present on this earth,
and that Satan is attempting to thwart God’s plan, but we must expect that Jesus has
defeated death, and victory is His, as well as ours!
Instead of filling your pockets with great expectations, fill
them with God-expectations!
GOING DEEPER:
1.
What unmet expectations of others might you need to let go of?
2. Are you placing your trust in God to meet your
needs, or in others?
FURTHER READING:
Susan enjoys teaching Bible
studies, writing, and tutoring with the Literacy Council. She and her husband
Mark lead an on-site small group for
Oakwood's Wednesday Night Community.
