THE EXPECTATION

THE EXPECTATION

Again, it is a good moment and time to show our appreciation to God in the light of His word. Today is a new day which none of us has seen before – a brand new day. Therefore, we need to live it by pleasing Him in and out of it. With our whole heart God must be glorified because He deserves all honour and glory. The Name of the Lord is great among the heathen and not just them alone, the Lord God in our midst is mighty also. The way of God is shown and revealed to us from heaven through His Son Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world that all men might be saved. Salvation is a wonderful experience and much more wonderful when we wait and continue in it. The expectation of God for us is sure to give us an expected end. Nothing and nobody can measure up to the standard desired for us by God. No one! God is gracious and merciful. Adore Him!

AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID AND ASHAMED OF ETHIOPIA THEIR EXPECTATION, AND OF EGYPT THEIR GLORY – Isaiah 20:5.

I think we must give attention to this one thing that, our expectation has become our undoing to an extent. The main reason why many are disappointed in this our present age can be attributed to expectation. Our expectation of father. Our expectation of mother, children. The kind of expectation people have in their spouses, friends, colleagues, associates, on businesses and other sphere of life is just too much that it becomes so normal to be disappointed. Many based their marriages on the expectation of what they watched in movies but sooner or later they discovered that none of that could work or align with the pattern which has been destined for them – frustration set in. Trust in the Lord always!

Most of the challenges we encounter or face in our daily activities are not so much different or separated from what our expectation is founded upon. Some have too high a view or expectation of man while others have too low a view or expectation too. By and large, our expectation has placed a kind of embargo and obstruction on the way God makes for us to tread carefully. Many a times, we do hear people say, “oh, I am disappointed in you.” Sincerely, it is clear that some might be genuine but most of them are based on too high expectation of men and when they ended up not meeting up with our expectation that is when frustration, disappointment and other acts of fallibility of man occupy space. We can only speculate about this. Anyway, the advice we can watch out for is to moderate our expectation on men else disappointment is not far away. Perhaps you have been a victim of this, have you learnt your lesson? It does not mean that we should not trust but having high a view of men is not healthy. Trust in men and not God, such trusting is cursed!

FOR SURELY THERE IS AN END; AND THINE EXPECTATION SHALL NOT BE CUT OFF – Proverbs 23:18

Lest we forget, it is noteworthy to say this that, God has expectation of you likewise satan. You have your own expectation of yourself and others. Men also have their expectation of you. Until we balance this, the hope of having and leading a life pleasing to God may be impossible to many of us. What is the expectation of God? Simply put, that none should perish but that we should come to repentance. Simple! Every other thing comes in here. This is clear in all we do because we see Gods mercy in all. There are some acts or actions we put up in our attitudes that warrant death but God would not want us to perish. That is why He keeps delivering us from the pangs, traps and purpose of the wicked. What a good expectation. Knowing His expectation for us, let us turn over to know the expectation of the archenemy of the brethren.

Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:…” This is the plan and expectation of the devil for as many he has taken captive or those he is planning to take captive. Do you understand this? As God is after the souls of men to increase the number of those in His Kingdom, the devil is also restlessly moving up and down on how to populate his kingdom as well. Are you surprise seeing how people are behaving and you say, why would anyone want to live that way? Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Why would anyone want to die without hope of life hereafter? The answer to those questions is not farfetched in that, the devil has his own expectation too. That is why it is so saddening not to have God in our thinking. Don’t let us forget that, the devil will not and never would he leave his captive except he destroy them. What is the way forward? Return to God! Whose expectation should we then fulfil, God’s or devil’s?

FOR THERE ARE SOME EUNUCHS, WHICH WERE SO BORN FROM THEIR MOTHER'S WOMB: AND THERE ARE SOME EUNUCHS, WHICH WERE MADE EUNUCHS OF MEN: AND THERE BE EUNUCHS, WHICH HAVE MADE THEMSELVES EUNUCHS FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN'S SAKE. HE THAT IS ABLE TO RECEIVE IT, LET HIM RECEIVE IT – Matthew 19:12

Most people turn out to become who they are because of people’s expectation of them. For instance, many students are studying a course they never wanted to, neither do they have interest in them but because their parents wanted them to. Their parents’ expectation. There are others that are doing a job they did not want to do. Not because they are desperate to have money or that they don’t want to be idle but because someone somewhere expected them to take it and do the job. Man’s expectation! From the passage of the Scripture above, apart from having the divine expectation on us, we start having expectation of ourselves and creating standard for ourselves too. This is what we need to address. If only we would moderate our expectation of one another, things could be better. Someone is sending a token from abroad to home, there is another who is saying, “is this how much he could afford to send, after all, he is working abroad.” Does that mean that everyone working abroad has enough? Instead for us to accept it and help him in prayer, we start to charm and do all sorts of despicable things. May I implore you, please let us moderate our expectation.

To round up, God’s expectation of us is to live peaceably with all men. That we should please Him always. And that we should have eternal life so that we won’t perish. All expectations should be aligned to this framework. It is only when we see our expectation in view or through God’s expectation that is when we live rightly and hopefully and faithfully. For the sick the expectation is healing. For the poor, the expectation is blessing. For the barren, the expectation is fruitfulness. To students, the expectation is success in examination. In business the expectation of them that do it is profit and gain in the turnover. To the dead the expectation is hope of life. To everyone, its peculiar expectation. But our prayer is irrespective of your expectation and mine, as long as it is in accordance with the will of God, it shall be granted us in the Name of Jesu Christ.

EXPECTATIONAL GREETINGS TO YOU ALL