Where'd Your Expectations Go?: The Battle of Flesh and Promise

It's hard to believe in a power that once let you down. You're told over and over again to expect great miracles, but when those miracles don't come to pass, what happens? When you've waited endlessly for the very thing you've been expecting but now you're weary. Now you're tired. Now you're fed up. What is there to expect, when expecting has failed you?

See the first is that you must expect God's foundational truths to come to pass. Not that your prince charming will come and propose to you in the way you wish, but that God will redeem and restore you despite the pain or heartbreak of your last relationship. Not that the job you consider to be your dream job will happen, but that you were created for a purpose, and that purpose will be fulfilled by God's will. Not that your friendships will last forever, but that He will equip you with the love, support and strength you need to succeed.

Many of our expectations are based on our own desires instead of God's will. They're based on what we want to manifest in our lives. Very seldom do we sit in expectation for God's plan, rather we sit patiently (and sometimes begrudgingly) awaiting the miracles of what we hope to see.

Rarely do we want God to be God—executing His plan and taking us on His path—we only want Him to be God in the ways that serve us. We want Him to be all powerful as it relates to Him giving us what we want, with or without the work necessary to make it happen (conditional blessings). We expect God to deliver what we want, without us acknowledging that much of what we want will do a great disservice to who we were called to be; who He called us to be. We expect God to deliver our desires, instead of fulfilling His plan how He deems most necessary. 

That is where most of our disappointment comes from.

It's not that God isn't delivering miracles, it's that He's not delivering the miracles we want. We constantly demand God to execute our plan and find ourselves disappointed when He doesn't. When He cares too much about us to just hand us what He knows will destroy us. The answer to this disappointment isn't to stop expecting, it's to stop expecting things God never promised. 

Much of this spiritual walk is a mind game. It's a change in our thinking and the ways we tackle life's everyday problems. It's our fight against temptation and the enemy's logic. It's not letting your emotions get the best of you. It's staying true to God's word and putting yourself and this world to the side. It's dying to yourself every day, and living for God's will—God's way.

So when you sit in expectation, sit in expectation for who God says He is, and expect Him to be just that. Don't expect a fairy tale you crafted in your head and get disappointed when God doesn't deliver it. Don't use your limited thinking to conjure up 'ideal situations' that you want God to fulfill, then despise Him when they don't come to pass. Instead, simply expect the goodness of God and the perfect power of His will—not yours.

It is not God's responsibility to fulfill His promise based on our plan, but to fulfill His promise based on our destiny. That's something worth expecting.