Expectations

I’ll admit it. I used to be a bit of a control freak.

Early in my walk with the Lord I had pretty strong expectations about how each day should play out, and I’d get very flustered when things didn’t go according to plan.

As a Precision time management style, I am very prone to this and I spent a lot of time fighting against God.

As the years went on and I learned more of God’s wisdom from His Word, it was quite unsettling to realize my expectations revealed more about my sinful flesh than I thought.

GotQuestions puts it this way:

“Our expectations are not always correct because of flaws in our logic and the bias of hope and desire. Sometimes, we “get our hopes up” based on a false premise or a misreading of the evidence. Often, we form expectations automatically, without conscious effort. When expectations are not met, pain ensues, and we often place blame on something or someone who did not live up to our expectations—even if our expectations were unreasonable.”

I was very good at justifying all kinds of reasons why my plans failed, all the while designing my own solutions to remove the obstacles in my way. That often included blaming others for my failures.

It was pride at its best.

I was unwilling to see. I wanted my way.

God, in His steadfast love and patience, was asking me to re-adjust my plans to His, and after years of resisting I finally understood that His plans are not only better, but they are the whole reason I exist.

That was the moment my faith took a transformational paradigm shift—not only in my expectations, but in my entire understanding of who God is and what He is doing.

We are all here for a purpose. 

Now, I know that statement may sound trite and overly existential, but it is a very great truth that we need to comprehend and take very seriously.

God is not playing games here. 
Our lives have more value than our human brains can even comprehend. 

But here’s the thing.

Our value lies in God and in His ways, not in us and our ways—because apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

When our thoughts are yielded to God and our intentions are focused on honoring Him, all our planning and expectations will be led by God.

Simply put, our expectations will dramatically change when our understanding of God dramatically changes.

God’s plans are not only good—they are worthy of a fall-to-your-face surrender of anything we could possibly desire over Him.

We are told to “work out (our) salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) because God knows that on most days, we can take our sanctification too lightly. 

We don’t like the words “fear and trembling” because they sound a bit uncomfortable.

But godly fear and holy trembling is where we find our true purpose.

It is the most breathtaking place we can be.

So, our every expectation—our every thought, action, word, and deed—needs to be yielded to our Lord so He can take our lump of clay and mold it into a vessel of His perfect design.

This kind of surrendered realization is so beautifully pictured in the story of Job. 

Job‘s eyes were opened to the magnitude of God and how petty his flawed thinking was when compared to the Almighty.

God spent two chapters (Job 38-39) asking rhetorical questions to reveal the stark contrast between distorted human thinking and that of the Creator.

Job’s response was a holy brokenness. He said to God:

“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.” Job 40:4

Even a glimpse of God’s greatness can overwhelm us, and it’s meant to.
Are you willing to let God overwhelm you with His love and faithfulness as you yield every expectation to Him? 

Offer Him every minute of your time, every plan of your heart, and every ounce of your life to be lived for His glory!

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5, KJV).