#7 Eager Expectation

My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.
He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved.
With God rests my salvation and my glory; He is my Rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God! Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!" Psalm 62:5-8

Expectations....Hope and disappointment.

We all have them. The question is..who are what are we asking to live up to them?

At a bible study the other night we were talking about expectations and this comment was made...

"We are expecting far too much from things that don't deserve expectation, while expecting far too little from the ONE that can exceed expectations."

I know in my life that I have put a lot of expectation into things or people that could NEVER live up to them. In fact, I probably ruined alot of relationships or friendships in time because my expectation was too great. Now...should you have standards....yes. But at the end of the day are you living with unrealistic expectations?

I had a friend in college who got frustrated with me one day and said..."If I give you 5 minutes, you want an hour. If I give you an hour...you want 2." I wonder if this person will remember saying this when he reads it. HA. It is something that has always remained in the back of my mind and I try to keep myself in check with that. Thanks.

The problem with placing our expectations in people in unrealistic ways means we set not only ourselves but others up to fail. No person on this earth will meet them all. We live in a fallen world. Disappointment comes. But recognizing that we are all broken individuals from the get go helps filter through and make sense of the disappointment. It leaves us more open to extend grace and forgiveness. It hopefully causes us to guard our hearts more carefully.

It is absolutely amazing how much we expect of others yet how little we expect of God.

There is a verse that I think on quite often these days:
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

It is so freeing and brings great peace to know that I can lay my requests before God and EXPECT Him to do something .

I encourage you to pray this in the morning because it puts everything into perspective throughout your day. Your God eyes are opened in eager expectation to wait and watch. What He will do with your desires and day will exceed what you could do on your own.

Let the adventure begin.