Have you ever seen someone get a gift, and it was not what they were expecting and not in a good way? Most of us may handle this fine, but some don’t. It may be silent and there may be a scene, but unfortunately this can cause a rift in relationships for years.
Often we act this way with God. We expect God to do things the way we have imagined him to do them.
In 2 Kings 5:11, Naaman had an expectation of not just being healed but how it should have been done. He was disappointed and angry because it didn’t happen like he thought it should. Thankfully, someone convinced him to listen, and he received his miracle. He almost missed it because of his expectations of how it should have been.
In Matthew 19:16-22 the rich young ruler had an expectation of how Jesus would respond to his accomplishments. When Jesus didn’t respond the way he had expected, he went away sorrowful.
We too will end up angry and sorrowful if we try to live for God expecting Him to do things the way we think they should happen. We can’t go pray to God with a multiple choice of how He should handle whatever it is we need. We can pray for whatever we need and leave it in His hands as to how He will handle it. Like the 3 Hebrew boys said God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but if He doesn’t we are still not going to bow. Because He will deliver us out of your hands. They left the “how” up to God.
Trust God, not with conditions, but absolutely. He’s got this, leave the how up to Him.
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Proverbs 3:5 KJV
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
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