What Do You Expect?

"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."
(2 Kings 5:11)  

Naaman came with expectations.  He expected Elisha, the prophet of God, to do a certain thing in a certain way to heal him, and when his  healing did not go the way that he expected, he 'went away angry.'  Rather than coming out to see Naaman, a respected commander in the army of the king of Aram, Elisha  sent a messenger out to him and told him to dip seven times in the Jordan River in order to be cleansed of his leprosy.  Naaman's expectations almost kept him from his healing.  Thankfully his servants talked him off the cliff of anger and pride; he did what Elisha told him and was healed after his seventh dip in the Jordan. 

An expectation is a pre-conceived notion of the way things should go; it's a strong belief that something will happen as we perceived it to.

We all have expectations.  

Maybe you expected your job to always be there and now it's not.
Maybe you expected the doctor to say, 'You're cancer free!' but instead they say, "I'm sorry, the cancer has come back and it's spread.'  
Maybe you expected your baby to be born healthy and strong, but instead you find yourself on your knees praying for them to be well, as they lay there with tubes and wires running in all directions.
Maybe you expected you would pass away long before your children, but you find yourself weeping as you place more flowers next to your son's grave.

This is not what we expect.  We expect things to go right, be right, for all to be well in our world...but life isn't like that, not real life.  At every place where our expectations are thwarted, when what we thought would happen didn't; we have a decision to make, a choice in how we respond.  At the point of decision we can either stay in the paradigm we have always stayed in and become disillusioned, depressed, or fearful, OR we can choose a new paradigm.

When hard, unexpected things happen, when the rug is pulled out from underneath us, when the job is gone, the diagnosis is bad, our loved one is not coming back---there is a place we can go where our expectations meet an end, and our hope begins.  My life is not where I expected it to be.  I have known outrageous abuse, terrifying sickness, deep loss, and profound rejection...yet I have hope and the kind of joy that you wear like a warm blanket on a bitter cold day.

How is that possible?  It is possible because every time I come, every time I kneel, every time I pray and yield; He is always more than I ever expected.  If the job is gone; He is my Provider.  If the cancer is back; He is my Healer.  If the child dies; He is my Comfort and I can rest in the hope and knowledge that I will hold them in my arms again.  My expectation is in Him.  All other expectation can and often does fall short of what we envisioned.  

I can expect Him to always be in control.
I can expect Him to always triumph.
I can expect Him to keep His word.
I can expect Him to be faithful and true.
I can expect Him to never fail.
I can expect Him to never leave me or forsake me.
I can expect Him to make all things right.
I can expect Him to restore.
I can expect Him to be God yesterday, today, and forever.  

We may not know what to expect tomorrow...but we can expect Him to be there sheltering, holding, uplifting, carrying, being our all in all, no matter what, for all of time and eternity.  

                                                                         Expectation

When my heart is heavy
tears flowing wave after wave
When all is darkness
I expect Him to save

When pain is unrelenting
When fear is the only gage
When shadows surround
I expect Him to save

When words fall like hammers
every one placed in rage
When my confidence is shattered 
I expect Him to save

When the relationship is over
When everything was all I gave
When sorrow covers like a shroud
I expect Him to save

His love is never failing 
He knows my inner ache
I will forever trust Him 
I expect Him to save

He holds all my expectations
He knows my every stage
He is my hope for always
I expect Him to save




Written by Anne Marie Hawke
April 2020

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