How the birds remind me, the goal of all things
I had another post on expectancy written for today.
It will have to wait.
I spent time this afternoon on my face. Katie’s life crumbles me. Amazing, beautiful Katie who’s only 21 and has adopted fourteen African orphans and feeds 1200 mouths every weekday. What am I doing? I struggle just to take care of these two kids who have colds and I’m wiping noses and bottoms and counters and I have six teaching sessions to study for this upcoming conference and I’m staring at this blank screen saying, “GOD! Where are you?” and it pours down rain outside and it’s June. But like Anne I feel so small, crumpled, deflated — we all have immunizations and medical care and the pouring rain doesn’t touch us and my kitchen counters are filled with bowls of fresh organic fruit and for crying out loud I just had diapers delivered to my door.
What, dear God, am I doing?
The tears come. Lots of them.
I read my passage, Psalm 27:6:
I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Worship.
And then it wells up in my heart and rises up to clear my eyes and even as I type these words I look outside and the clouds have parted and the sky is clear. The rain stopped. A bird sings, is actually singing this very moment as I type this sentence.
Even the rocks will cry out.
That bird keeps singing. The bird that’s neither holding orphans nor speaking at conferences.
Is anxious for nothing.
Because we cannot worship and be anxious simultaneously. And worship is the only spiritual discipline which is an end in and of itself.
Missions exist because worship doesn’t. We storm the 10-40 window because in it there are worshippers of God who are not yet worshipping.We sponsor children in Africa, orphans ravaged by the effects of AIDs, not simply to give them a better life but so they can see the goodness and mercy of our glorious God and rise to their feet in worship. I pick eight dear women to mentor for the next 10 months not because we need more meetings but because I see in them the capacity to become radical and influential worshippers of the One True God.
And the tears keep flowing, ones of joy now, because I’m seeing this is freedom. The pure and holy fire of desire is that all creation would worship our Great and Glorious God. That they would see Him as the most beautiful, most faithful, most worthy, most captivating.
But if our motivation is anything less the flame will be dirty.
My flame has been dirty.
I confess I want this book I’m writing to be published. What’s the point of pouring out all these words if no one reads them?
But that bird sings whether I’m listening or not.
Because worship is an end in and of itself. What if that bird waited to sing until someone was listening?
She would be silent forever. Because we don’t listen until we hear the song. And the world won’t listen until you sing your worship.
You have worship in your heart, a joyful sacrifice to shout to your King.
Your worship will be different from Katie’s, from Anne’s, from Beth’s. From mine. It will be yours and you’re the only one who can sing it.
But we have to sing it, friends. And we have to remember that worship is our goal. Fellowship isn’t the goal, Christian education isn’t the goal, financial stewardship isn’t the goal, even evangelization and world missions isn’t the ultimate goal. Worship is the goal.
Everything we do must serve that end.
Remember: Worship. The goal is God glorified.
2: Expectancy is true hope, not "getting our hopes up"
Yesterday we looked at the first side of expectancy, trusting God with something not believing Him for something. I pray those little seeds are taking root in our lives as we begin to discern the difference in our everyday lives.
Today, side two:
2. Expectancy is true hope, not “getting our hopes up.”
Words are funny things, and powerful things. Sometimes, the meaning of our words gets mixed up. I remember a dear missionary friend who always said, in the foreign tongue, “I gotta just keep my eyes on Jesus!” and then one day realized with horror that all that time she’d been saying, “I gotta just keep my eggs on Jesus!”
Using the right word: It matters.
But the sad part is that often our words become defined by the world instead of by the Word. Love for example. The world would say that two people hooking up in a one-night-stand after drinking too much in a bar are “making love.” God’s definition is a little different. We have to rethink what our words mean, amen?
This is problem when we talk about hope. We think that “getting our hopes up” leads to disappointment, so our strategy is to not “get our hopes up” so that we won’t get disappointed.
In the world’s dictionary, we might read: “Hope = Disappointment.”
These are the words we use. However, what is the ONE thing we KNOW about hope from Scripture?
“Hope does not disappoint.” Romans 5:5
This is God’s definition of hope. God’s definition isn’t tied to expectations, circumstances, or result. True hope, as defined by God’s Word, does not disappoint.
This is the hope that God’s Word speaks of:
Why are you so downcast oh my soul? HOPE IN GOD. (Psalm 42 & 43)
Hope is not in a person, a circumstance, or an outcome. Hope is in the character of God. Hope does not disappoint. So this is a fabulous way to determine if I’m hoping God’s way. So even last week, something happened that caused a mild disappointment. It wasn’t a big deal, but it caused me to realize that I was hoping as the world hopes–in an outcome–rather than as God’s Word tells me to hope–in His beautiful sovereignty and goodness.
With expectancy.
How do you define hope? Do you find yourself trying to simple “not get your hopes up” to avoid disappointment? Let’s dig for something deeper, something greater, a hope in God’s goodness, a hope that’s filled with holy expectancy. Thanks for reading.
1:Expectancy is Trusting God With Not For
Finally, we come to our blessed main event: Expectancy. The essence of this life of faith is expectancy without expectation. So excited to look at this with you.
We talked about Three Particularly difficult types of disappointment (those that are long, those that are not understood, and those which we must bear silently) and saw that disappointment is defined as thwarted expectation. We saw how God purposefully and strategically disappoints us so that we will believe, in order to deliver us from fear and birth in us true faith. We saw how that fear can keep us from entering into disappointment, keep us from dealing honestly with God, and keep us on the disappointment cycle.
Praise God there is another cycle: The Fulfillment cycle. More on that to come. For now, let’s look at Expectancy and see how it differs from Expectation. We’ll look at expectancy like a 6-sided cube. There are 4 main aspects, then one underneath that is difficult to see, and one that can only be seen from above. We’ll look at one each day. Shall we begin?
1. Expectancy is trusting God with not for.
We have to embrace that living in expectancy is not simply believing God FOR something. We hear all the time in Christian circles the idea of trusting God for something or believing God for something. I’m trusting God for and then name a thing that we’re basically just really wanting. Of course it is good lay our cares before the Lord and trust Him concerning those things. But I think there might be a subtle difference between trusting God with something and trusting God for something. The difference between Expectancy and Expectation.
For example, if I’m trusting God with a situation, it means that I’m trusting that whatever the outcome, His grace is sufficient and His character demands my faith and trust. If I’m trusting God for a job, a house, a good diagnosis, etc. then I’m placing my own expectations on what I think God should do. It’s like I’m subtly twisting God’s arm saying, “Ok God, here’s my faith, now do what I want you to do.” I’m afraid that I do this way more often that I even realize.
Let’s look briefly at the prime example of trusting God no matter what the outcome: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. They were about to be thrown into the fiery furnace and they trust God with their heated circumstances:
“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods.” [Daniel 3:16-18]
Basically, they’re saying, We’re not only trusting God for deliverance out of the fiery furnace, we trust God with our situation and He is God and can do whatever He pleases.
Believing God for something is really nothing more than making a wish list, then slapping a holy-sounding word like “belief” or “trust” on it to make my dreams come true. That is nothing more than expectation. So instead of trusting God for something, our goal is to trust God. Period.
Believing God means that even if nothing changes, if my circumstances remain the same, even if the “bad thing” happens, I will yet trust Him, I will hope in Him, I will rejoice in Him. We say with Job, “Though He slay me yet will I trust Him” Now keep in mind, we are very limited in this. I don’t currently have the grace to even fathom coping with the loss of my husband or my children. We don’t have to be ok with it–as if Oh I’m fine if my family dies and the world falls apart. But we can prepare, as best as we know how, so that when the circumstances of life overwhelm us, we are prepared with our eyes filled with expectancy, rather than simply hoping in expectations that we fabricate in our minds.
Expectancy is fueled by faith; Expectation, by fear.
Are there any areas where you’re currently believing God for something instead of trusting God with something? I know the relinquishment is painful. I’m praying for grace, for us all, as we trust God with our all. Thanks for reading.
I'd trade my husband for a housekeeper
No I would not!
But that is the title of a book I just read, which actually has very positive things to say about husbands.
The book is not Christian, and I’m not recommending it as the next great marriage-builder, but sometimes it’s fascinating to read secular books and get a feel for what the world in general is thinking these days.
These days they’re thinking that this marriage thing just isn’t working right.
And for the most part, they’re right. Most marriages today aren’t working right, aren’t working as God intended them to. He created marriage as a glorious picture of Christ and the Church and yet we’ve scribbled all over that picture with our sin and our selfishness. (The crayon is in my hand too.)
And while these authors don’t have the power of God’s Word to shed true light on the situation, they did point out one thing in particular that really struck me about our society:
There is far more pressure to be a “good mom” than there is to be a “good wife.”
Isn’t that the truth? I have never lost sleep over whether or not I am a good wife. But you better believe I have cried my eyes out over whether I’m a good mom. Why is that?
Probably lots of reasons. For me, the marriage thing is just so much easier than parenting. I have the most amazing, godly, laid-back, low-maintenance husband. It is impossible to fight with him. It’s really hard to displease him. Kids? Um…kids can go from zero to meltdown in about 2 seconds. And they don’t seem to mind fighting at all.
Secondly, marriage just seems so much more intuitive. Just being a godly person with common sense makes a great spouse. But, at least in my opinion, that doesn’t necessarily make a great parent. Whoever said parenting comes naturally must know a different kind of natural than me. I’m learning, but it’s not second-nature to be sure.
Finally, when we get together with our girlfriends, we almost always talk about our kids. We blog about kids, read books about kids, encourage each other about our kids, but how cool would it be if we were that passionate about taking care of our husbands? He’s the one that’s going to still be around when the little munchkins are long gone.
He’s the one who completes your personal picture of Christ and His church, for all the world to see.
Your kids and you don’t show the world Christ. Yes, you reflect God our Father and Parent by godly parenting, but only our marriage is held up in Scripture as the picture of Christ and the church. It’s interesting that a secular book would, of course, discover the same truths that God spoke thousands of years ago. Marriage first. Kids second.
So does your marriage need some attention? Take this fun quiz (from the book) and find out for yourself:
Circle all that apply:
- You spend more time with Mr. Potato Head than your husband.
- You’ve fantasized about spraining your ankle just so you can spend some quiet time in the emergency room.
- Your last “date night” was … when you were dating.
- You rationalize not washing your hair for another day because it will save you twenty minutes.
- You refer to your husband as “Daddy.”
- You’re be more concerned with making sure your kid is wearing the right soccer uniform than whether there’s any food in the fridge for your husband.
- You have an uncontrollable fondness for sweatpants, yoga pants, or any pants with an elastic waistband.
- You celebrate your anniversary with a family trip to the zoo.
- His email address comes to mind faster than his first name.
What are three things you can for your husband, today, to show him he’s the top priority in your life? Thanks for reading, and happy Monday!