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Expectations

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“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil- to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!  When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.” Isaiah 64:1-4 (ESV)

 

I am hopeful God shows up in unexpected ways, but the truth is I do not look for Him to show up in unexpected ways, I look for Him to show up the way I expect Him to.  If there is sickness, I expect healing, a need- provision, a dream- fruition. His appearance manifest the way I hope and expect it to does glorify Him. If however, I wish to behold His glory in unexpected ways, I need to watch for His appearance in the moment, not just the moment to come.  God is unbound, He is present and moving whether or not we acknowledge His presence. Acknowledging His presence however, changes us, and how we experience life.

 

Apparently most of the Israelites were looking for God to show up the way they expected Him to show up when Pharaoh’s army chased them to the edge of the Red Sea.  This is what happened when God did not show up how and when they were expecting Him.

 

“They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?  What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’?  For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’” Exodus 14:11-12

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Moses on the other hand, was not looking for an escape route, He was looking for God and He saw God present.

 

“And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  Exodus 14:13-14

 

By all earthly appearances the sea was creating impending doom for the children of God.  But God opened up the sea and made a way of escape through it. The very sea that appeared to be blocking progress, was actually a passageway toward the Promised Land.  As mortals who like to be comfortable, we see suffering and death as impending doom. Yet suffering often draws us closer to God and earthly death is the passageway to the Promised Land for a believer.  Even so, given a choice, most of us would bypass suffering, and wait a little longer to send our loved ones on ahead to the Promised Land. Suffering and loss are not choices, our choice is simply whether or not we will allow God to meet us in them.  It is right to expect great things from God, we just must be careful not to define what those great things well be. Sometimes He changes situations, sometimes He changes us.

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“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.”  Psalm 62:5

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