'The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath.'
Proverbs 11:23
Expectations. This is a word I have really felt God has been saying to me over the past week, and I am really looking forward to writing a devotional about it today. If I don't manage to write all that I feel God is telling me today, I will continue with this on the next day, because I really want to be able to share all the thoughts that have come to my head when I have prayed about this subject.
There is a book which you might have heard of, by Charles Dickens, called Great Expectations - don't read on if you don't want spoilers! In it, a young blacksmith called Pip comes into a large fortune and property, goes to London (I'm British, if you hadn't already worked that one out) and becomes a 'gentleman with great expectations'. However, he has become also different to how he used to be, and treats his old family as if they were less important than him. When he loses this fortune at the end of the novel, he returns to that family, and he is welcomed back into that home, et cetera, et cetera. Sound familiar? It's very much like the story of the prodigal son - and that's what I wanted to talk about today.
For when we expect too much of the world and the people around us, I think we lose that love and gentleness that we have. Nothing and no-one is perfect, and it is not our place to judge people or things because of their faults. If we expect and want too much, we will never be satisfied, and, like Pip in the novel, we will find ourselves drawing away from those who we really love, and drawing away from God. For He is the one who we can expect great things from; with Jesus, anything is possible. So why expect things from the world when you can have no doubt as to their assurance from Jesus?
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you that you have created a wonderful world to live in, and thank you that all you have made is wonderful and good. Please help me not to expect too much from others, but to know that you are the one who is in control, and if I give everything to you, I can be assured that you are in control.
Amen
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