Have you ever put God in a box? Limited him to the walls of a church? His love for you to the length and complexity of a prayer? Based His goodness on the circumstances around you? Wrote off His ability to heal you, use you, speak to you because of something you did or something you weren’t doing more of?
As humans it is hard for us to imagine something or someone that doesn’t operate according to our human tendencies. Betrayal. Abandonment. Insecurity. Fear. Prejudice. Just to name a few.
So more often than not, we limit God by our own false human expectations. When God doesn’t move how we want, we believe He must not care about us. In a culture of instant and prime delivery, our human minds must remember God is not Amazon. God is not something we get primed to our door step a day or two later.
What expectations and hopes have you placed in God? It is good and right to expect things of God. Romans 8:15 But it can get messy when we put our human expectations on Him, and when our hope lies in His gifts and provision instead of His presence.
Our human expectations may be that God is going to move in the way we want Him to, that He won’t make our life hard, that God is going to speak when we ask Him and if He doesn’t do these things our human understanding will interpret it as God doesn’t care, He can’t hear me, and that nothing will change.
When we place our hope in our current economic standings, our jobs, our family, our security in the friends we have, the place we live…imagine a world where all of those things are taken from you? Is the world suddenly over for you? Have you lost all hope?
Even things that you count on to fill you up, small things such as a good concert, a church service, a conference, things that are good and for the Kingdom of God we can place our hope in more than the very person of Jesus.
In the past few weeks God has (very graciously) slapped me in the face with this truth. I was hoping for the things I was looking forward to, to happen and bring me joy. Oh the longing and expectation I had built up for weeks and all of it was ripped from underneath me, no one saw it coming and it honestly felt like a death that I had to mourn. I had to grieve many things that would not come to pass, that I was hoping in only a few days prior. The fear and the panic of imagining a reality with those things and events not taking place gripped me in a way that surprised me. I was in disbelief that life could change so rapidly and also that it had affected me so much.
None of these things were wrong. What was wrong was me placing my hope in events and people to satisfy me and bring me joy.
Are you hoping in ____________ to fill you up? You fill in the blank. Netflix? The next event? Boyfriend? Friends? The next adrenaline rush or surge of dopamine?
Are you hoping in the world to keep its peace? Are you hoping in your government and doctors to make the right decisions? Are you hoping for things to go your way? Are you hoping for an easy way out?
Where is your hope? Where is your expectation?
These are questions that I have felt Jesus impress on my heart these past few weeks in light of the global pandemic that has exposed the the things and people I was placing my hope in more so than Jesus. For lack of a better way of saying it, I believe the Corona Virus is exposing the world’s idols, including mine.
But who wants to get their hopes up and ultimately have their expectations crushed?
You see, both the world and God can fail to meet our expectations. The difference however, between the world crushing your hopes and dreams compared to when God does, is that God doesn’t fail to meet your expectations because He is broken, or limited, or acting out of negative emotion. He breaks our hope in the temporal things that He knows will not satisfy us in order to point us to the One who can fulfill every longing in our heart.
“And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” ~ Romans 5:5 (TPT)
I don’t know why God doesn’t always answer prayers or meet our expectations. (Actually I think He exceeds our expectations, its just a matter of time and gaining His perspective on things.) But I do know that He sees you and knows you and cares more about changing your heart than the circumstances in your life. The Bible shows us this over and over again.
So what if this season of life that the world is currently in, is an invitation rather than something being forced on us? An invitation to partner with God in the breaking; in the exposing of what’s truly in our hearts. An invitation to repent – bring to light – where we have been misplacing our hope. An invitation to return. To lean all our weight on him and confide in his arms. (Deuteronomy 33:12) To realign our hope in the One who doesn’t operate according to our human tendencies, who is greater than the limitations we put on Him, to the One who isn’t shaken when the world around us is, to the One who is so desperately wanting to just be with you that He will do anything to get your attention.
And if the world around you isn’t a sign enough, let this serve as an invitation from the One who formed you, reaching out and whispering…
… I AM here.
Thanks for taking the time to read these words. They were written with you in mind, but to be honest I’m speaking them right back to my own heart.
If we haven’t met, my name is Daysha! I am probably just like you in many respects. Someone who is trying to figure out life, her dreams, and her passions. Discovering who God called her to be, while cheering others on that same journey. A girl who struggles with insecurities, fears and shame. But who is showing up imperfectly for the glory of God and the good of others.
Follow along the journey @daysha.albrecht
Thanks for reading.
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