Great Expectations
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”
Isaiah 55:8-9
Throughout the Gospels, there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding Jesus’ identity and the good news that He desires to bring to all people. After all, most people during this time expected the Messiah to raise up an army and overthrow the government, liberating God’s people.
Unfortunately, not much has changed since then. We too have our own expectations of who God is and how He should operate, especially when things do not turn out the way we expect. Most of us want everything to go according to our plans. We want to know exactly when, where, how and what is going to happen next.
We can become so blinded by our own preconceptions of what God’s agenda should be, that sometimes we may fail to see God’s presence altogether. However, as we hear throughout Holy Scripture, God does not conform to our human expectations or desires. Instead, God always has something much better in store for us.
An anonymous note found in the pocket of a dead Confederate soldier over a hundred years ago perfectly sums this up.
"I asked God for strength, that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have praise; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything that I had hoped for."
