Expectation
Louise Duval
LPC, LAC, CAC
7/18/2023
Expectation. That word was the theme of my daughter’s dance studio this past year. We have lots of expectations, and many of them are unmet. Living in a fallen world, we are imperfect and live with imperfect people, so people will not always meet our expectations. Sometimes we don’t even meet our expectations, but has God ever not met your expectations? God is perfect, so if He does not meet our expectations, our expectations are wrong.
We often think that becoming a Christian makes everything more manageable, but that expectation is wrong. When you become a Christian, Jesus becomes a part of your life, changing everything, but it does not make life easy. “I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Jesus spoke this to His disciples after spending a lot of time talking about his coming death and Him no longer being physically with them. Maybe, Jesus was hoping that if He let them know they would have hard times when they did, they would be expecting it, which would help them face it with peace. Being a Christian does not make life easier, but it does make life better because now we face the trouble of life with the God who sees eternity. One expectation we can have if we are Christians is that God will never leave us. In Deuteronomy 31:8, God tells the Israelites, “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” The last thing He tells His disciples before He goes back to Heaven is: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
When we read the Bible, we can see what we can expect because God keeps every promise He made there. Some of them include life is hard, but the God of the universe who knows everything will walk through life with us; God created us for a purpose, He loves us, and the greatest expectation of all: He is coming back to get us so we can spend eternity with Him! We can live in expectation that our King will return and make everything in the world right. Until He does, we can have correct expectations by reading the Bible and asking God to help us understand it and live our life for Him. “Show me your ways, God, teach me to follow you.” (Psalm 25:4)