Expectation is defined as: a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
When we expect something, we believe that something will happen or be the case in the future. We get our expectation set in our mind. We focus on it. We dream about it. We start making plans around it. We move in that direction. It becomes our future reality and then we expect it to happen.
But what happens when our expectation fails us? What happens when things don’t go the way we planned? Do we react in anger? Blame? Rejection? Abandonment? Do we get mad at God? Do we blame the people who disappointed us?
See, when we place expectations on others or on an event or even on ourselves, we are prioritizing our own will over God’s. We create an idol that we serve. We create an idol in our minds of how WE want things to go and we start to serve that idol instead of serving God and His will for the situation.
When we have expectations, we are more concerned with what we want rather than what God wants.
The answer to being a slave to our expectations is surrender. We need to ask God to forgive us for allowing this idol be the god that we serve and then we need to ask God to take His rightful place in our hearts in our minds and invite Him to be the One and Only True God that we serve.
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are His ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8). We need to surrender our expectations to Him.
We need to hand over to Him the way we think we should go. A red flag should appear the minute we think we know how things are supposed to go as a reminder to seek God’s will over our own will in all situations and circumstances.
Father God,
Thank You that Your way is best for me. Forgive me for thinking that I know best. You see the whole picture. You see all of the moving parts. You have plans to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future. I trust that Your ways are best for me even when it may not look the way that I think it should. I surrender my will, my plans, and my expectations to You. Forgive me for serving my will instead of Yours and I invite You to take Your rightful place in my life. Your rightful place is above all of my desires. Thank you that I can trust You and that You love me more than I can even imagine!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen