We all have different expectations of different people. We even carry expectations of politicians when we vote, hoping that this time this person will do something better for us. That’s why political parties prepare their candidates and advertise what people should expect if they come to power. In a world that runs on expectations, we must realise that there are many expectations we need to address ourselves.
Our parents, our friends, our dear ones, our church: everyone expects something from us. Prayers are expected. A helping hand is expected. Good words may be expected. Paul puts it simply:
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
Are we really meeting the expectations of the people around us? Only then can we look further and say, “Now I need to look into what God is expecting from me.”
Even before the expectation of the Father in heaven was fulfilled, Jesus made sure his mother would be cared for. Pinned to the cross by nails, he turned to his disciple and said:
“Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:26-27)
So the next time we say we are overwhelmed and too busy, let’s ask ourselves: are we ready to meet the expectations people place on us?
The Expectations of the Enemy
The enemy also places expectations on us, and these are deeply problematic, because they are not for our good but to destroy us. Jesus said:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
Look at Eve. The enemy gave her false hope and false expectations:
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)
But the reality was different. The enemy promised Eve that her eyes would be opened and that she would be like God, knowing good and evil. But look at what actually happened:
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:7-8)
Even after eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they still did not know what was good for them. They thought hiding from God would help, but it failed miserably. God simply called out, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), and Adam admitted he was still afraid and still felt naked (Genesis 3:10). They thought leaves would be enough to cover themselves, and that failed too. It was God himself who finally clothed them:
The fruit that promised wisdom did them no good. It only brought more problems. So the expectations of the enemy need to be destroyed.
Tamar: The One Who Broke Out
Tamar was a woman found alone. Everyone wanted her for different purposes, but no one wanted her as a mother, as a person who would start a family and carry the lineage forward. Everyone abandoned her. In the end, even Judah considered her a curse and stopped his youngest son from marrying her, because he was afraid he would die too:
Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” (Genesis 38:11)
Everyone treated her as a curse. But when she decided to take matters into her own hands, God answered her, and she became pregnant. At the birth, when the midwife saw a hand, she took it to be the firstborn. But the true firstborn, the one nobody was expecting, pulled himself back, and the midwife exclaimed:
“So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. (Genesis 38:29)
Yes, many times people place expectations on us that we will never come out, that we will never break free of certain situations. They have already tied a scarlet thread to show who the “firstborn” is. But if God has seen us, no matter what thread or what expectation people have tied around us, we will find ourselves breaking out. Perez was a man who broke out and carried the legacy of Judah.
Haman and Mordecai
Haman expected Mordecai to bow and fall down before him, and planned to hang him on the pole he had set up at his own house. But what happened? Mordecai was honoured before Haman, won over Haman, and Haman was hanged on his own pole:
So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided. (Esther 7:10)
The enemy may place his expectations upon us, but God is there to break what the enemy has planned.
Michal, David and Saul
In the Bible we see many men who loved women: Adam loved Eve, Abraham loved Sarah, Isaac loved Rebekah, Jacob loved Rachel, and so on. In a way, it foreshadows that Jesus loves his church:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
But there is one place where the woman loved the man: Michal loved David. And before David even knew, the news reached Saul. The enemy is the first to know when we start to love Christ.
Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” (1 Samuel 18:20-21)
Saul expected this love to become a snare, and he began to plot. He expected David to fall into the hands of the Philistines, so he set the price of the bride in such a way that David would walk into his trap (1 Samuel 18:25).
But God destroys the plans of the enemy:
The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. (Psalm 33:10)
God did not just thwart Saul’s plan. He made David victorious in the very plan meant to destroy him. David killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins to meet the demand of the king:
David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. (1 Samuel 18:27)
Many times the enemy places such expectations on us, expectations that look like a great plan, while silently he waits for our failure. David may have thought that Saul, in his zeal, truly wanted the Philistines to be weakened. But inwardly, King Saul was rooting for David to fail.
What Are We to Do?
We are to look to God for guidance. There will be many rooting for us to fail, expecting us to abandon our post and flee. But hold on to God. He is there to destroy the plans of the enemy.
Nebuchadnezzar hoped and expected to see the ashes of the three men he threw into the furnace. Instead, he saw a fourth man.
Not just a fourth man, but a revelation: the fourth looked like the Son of God.
When Our Own Expectations Get in the Way
Sometimes the problem is the expectations we hold ourselves. We are like Naaman, expecting the prophet to come out, wave his hand and speak a spell to heal us. But the words and instructions of the prophet enrage us, and we fall back into despair and depression.
But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” (2 Kings 5:11-12)
We are those Naamans, grumbling and making excuses that the rivers of Damascus are far better than the waters of Israel. In our grumbling, we forget that our expectations also get broken before God:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
And God reminds us:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)
Our expectations will be broken if they are not aligned with God’s plan.
We are the arrows that fly toward the expected target, only to find that the real target was something we never imagined. These are the arrows found in the Quiver of God.
May God bless you all.