Psalms 62:5 “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.”
There was a man speaking to his son. “Son, I want to teach you something about expectations and you will need to listen carefully to hear the truth about what I want to teach you.” So saying he took out his wallet and thumbed through many bills in the wallet before selecting a one hundred dollar bill. The child had his eyes glued to the wallet from the very second his father pulled the wallet out. He had his eye on a brand new bicycle at the hardware store that saw in the front window enticing him every day he walked to school. He had voice his desire to his mother several times always telling her how beautiful it was. The father continued to speak while holding the bill in his hand. “Son, you mother and I, over many years of hard work, many times doing without so that you might have all you needed while growing up. Your mother especially did without things like necklaces and other jewelry that women love. I would give her money to spend on herself and she would spend it on you instead. We worked our jobs hard and with a good amount of success. Only recently could we afford to give her the things that would make her life better.” All this time he is holding the one hundred dollar bill in his hand. The son was fixed on it. In his mind he saw his father giving him the money to buy that bicycle, “Your mother is still doing without jewelry. When I give her money, she buys household item we have needed or wanted for years, like the new vacuum cleaner. She has done without for years so that you and I could be comfortable. Now if she gets a gift of jewelry from someone she loves, then maybe the sacrifice would have been more than paid back for her selflessness. Son, if I give you thins money what will you do with it?” he asked. “Buy the bicycle in the hardware store window!” he said excitedly. The father pulled his wallet back out and put the money away. “You missed the point I was trying to make, son.” He put the money in his wallet and put the wallet away. “I told you while I spoke to you how you could earn the money I held in my hand, but you missed it entirely. From the very second you saw it, all you saw was the bicycle in the window. I told you that your mother deserved some jewelry because she sacrificed for you and you ignored it. You see, your mother had already bought the bicycle for you, but I am having her take it back to the store. She again had spent her jewelry money on our family, but you do not deserve it yet,” he said firmly. “Someday when you truly understand that your mother is worth more than a bicycle, then maybe I’ll buy you one.”
The expectation of a Godly man should and needs to be in the Lord, but what does that mean? I’ll try to explain it as simply as I can, but it isn’t obvious to most people.
God has prepared heaven for our final reward. Jesus today is preparing a place for us there. John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” In that place shall be peace and joy and a life worth the living. Most people stop at that point. We look forward to it, some with longing, some with minimal expectation. It is a fact for them that when they die they will go to heaven, yet there is so much more to life than just waiting to die.
Like the mother in our story. The LORD God deserves much for He has sacrificed much for us. We owe Him our love and affection. He deserves it. We owe Him our life. He gave it to us. We owe Him our loyalty. He is worthy of it. We owe Him so many things that it will take our lifetime to repay Him for all that He has done for us and continues to do for us. Are you in health, praise God for it. Do you have prosperity? Praise God for it. Is you situation pleasant? Praise God for it.
Now what if you do not have a pleasant situation, do you blame God for it? What if you are just squeaking by financially, do you blame God for it? What if your health is poor, do you blame God for it?
Friend, life is a proving ground. Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Our life, in prosperity, in health, in pleasant situations, in pain, in suffering, in dismal surroundings, should all be lived by the dictates of God’s Word. You see, our life here on earth no matter what our situation is, is but a vapor, appearing for a little while then vanishing away. Our God is eternal. Eternity is so called for it is forever as God is. Our life on this earth is such a small amount of time when compared to eternity that if we look at the end result over the day to day, then like the song tells us, “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
We need to live in reality, one day at a time, trying to live for Christ and not start looking past that to the reward we will all receive when we arrive.
