Have you ever expected something? Perhaps when you know your birthday is coming up, you expect people close to you to get you something to show their love and appreciation for you. Maybe you’ve put yourself in a position to receive a promotion at work, and when you find out that a better position has opened up, you expect to receive the promotion. Having expectations is a crucial part of life. They give us hope that something good is going to happen.
However, creating and maintaining an attitude of expectancy can be difficult. If we’re being honest, we spend a lot of time wondering about whether or not God is really doing anything in our situation. We have hope, but do we really have expectations?
We can cultivate an attitude of expectancy. All of us have some sort of an attitude. Some of us walk around with an optimistic attitude while others are more pessimistic. Some of us have a “business first” attitude that keeps us focused solely on work, while others possess an outgoing attitude that leads to making connections with people we meet everywhere.
You have control over your attitude. If you don’t currently have an attitude of expectancy, where you walk around truly believing that God is going to do something incredible in your life, you can make changes to your attitude that will produce those feelings.
Faith Produces Expectation
Genesis 7:5 (ESV)
And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.
You may already be familiar with the story of Noah and his ark. However, if you’re not, we will catch the high points of the story, but you can read it for yourself in Genesis chapters 6-8.
Up until this point, it had never rained. That’s right, not a single drop of rain had ever fallen on the earth. Additionally, all of humanity had grown progressively more wicked. In fact, Noah, his wife, their three sons and their three wives were the only righteous people that God could find anywhere in the world. God spoke directly to Noah and told him that He was going to destroy the earth with a flood. Not only had the world never seen anything as large as a flood, but the world had also never even seen a raindrop! Noah was faced with a decision. He could trust God and expect rain, or he could rely on logic and go on with his life.
Noah immediately jumped into action building a boat to the exact specifications that God provided. Why? Because he was expecting rain. Were there times when the work was hard? Of course. Were there days where Noah wondered how he was going to gather all these animals into this giant boat? Probably. However, Noah started expecting rain the minute God told him it was going to flood.
God will probably never tell you to build a boat to protect yourself from a coming flood. However, God still speaks to His people, primarily through His Word. When we read or hear God’s Word and believe it, we begin to expect the things that He says to us to happen.
When you increase your faith, you begin to develop an attitude of expectation. If you struggle with expectations, spend time reading God’s Word. Embrace the fact that He loves you just as much as He loves the people in the Bible. When you do that, you shift your attitude to one of expectation, since you know that God wants to move on your behalf just like He did for them.
Changing Your Thoughts
Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Your thoughts dictate your attitude. For instance, if you walk around all the time thinking that something terrible is going to happen, your attitude will reflect those thoughts. If you go to work every day and think that no one recognizes or appreciates your work, your job performance will decline. If you come home every day and think that your spouse hates you, your marriage will suffer. Your thoughts dictate your attitude, and your attitude impacts your actions.
That correlation is why Paul said that we should spend our time thinking about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy and every other Godly thing. He knew that there was a connection between thoughts, expectations and actions.
All of us have to make a decision to change the way that we think. It’s easy to get caught up in a naturally negative mindset, especially when there is so much going on in the world around us. However, if we focus our thoughts onto the things of God, our expectations will shift into something better.
Patience is a Virtue
Isaiah 40:29-31 (ESV)
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Have you ever heard it said that “patience is a virtue?” That old saying highlights the importance of waiting for things in life that we want. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world that promotes patience. We prefer speed and convenience in virtually every area of life. Americans spend billions of dollars every year on fast food and drive thru coffee shops because we like to grab our food or drink to go. We walk around with phones in our pockets that can pull up any piece of information in the world within a matter of seconds. You would be hard-pressed to find a home in the United States that doesn’t have a microwave, as we like the ability to fix an entire meal in a matter of minutes. We don’t have time to be patient.
However, when we walk in an attitude of expectancy, patience becomes a natural byproduct. When you believe that God is working things out for your good according to His Word, you’re able to be patient. You don’t have to see something happening all the time to believe that God is working everything out. Instead, you “wait upon the Lord.”
God, through the prophet Isaiah promised that there were good things that come to people who wait on Him. Have you ever seen an eagle fly? They make it look so effortless, as they simply extend their wings and allow the air currents to carry them. In the same vein, when God’s people commit themselves to waiting on the Lord, we don’t take any of the work on ourselves. Instead, we simply “extend our wings” and allow God to carry us.
Additionally, waiting on the Lord allows us to run the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1) without growing faint. We won’t want to give up because we will run the entire race with the expectation that He is for us.
Whether we know it or not, all of us have expectations in life. Some of them are optimistic while others are pessimistic. If you walk around all the time expecting good things to happen, you will be an overall happier person. Conversely, if you walk around with a pessimistic attitude, you will be short tempered, grouchy and generally disagreeable. Keep your expectations based on God’s Word. It not only provides a point of encouragement, but it’s also a great way to ensure that you’re behaving according to His Word.
A Closing Prayer:
God, help me to develop an attitude of expectancy. I know that You love me just as much as You love the people in the Bible. Instead of always expecting the worst, help me to expect things based on Your Word. In Christ’s name I ask these things, Amen.