Bring Your Great Expectations

I was sitting in a board meeting a few weeks ago, a meeting where I was simply an observer. To say it was tense would be an understatement. The strife was centered on one person in the group—an antagonistic and argumentative person. The work of the board was at a standstill, and tempers were rising.

I could do nothing. Nothing but pray, that is. I wasn’t sure what to pray for, so I just cried out internally, God, you have to do something here!

About ten minutes later, the person responsible for the strife turned to his neighbor and said, “Well, I have to leave now for another meeting. Take good notes.” He rose from his seat, took his belongings, and left.

On the outside, I was cool as a cucumber. But on the inside, I was rejoicing. He did it! I asked God to intervene, to show up, to DO SOMETHING. And he did!

It is common practice in our prayer life to ask God for something, but do we actually expect him to deliver? Do we trust him to answer our prayers?

The issue of trust is not new. Let’s consider the Old Testament. The Israelites are wandering in the wilderness, having been freed from bondage in Egypt with miracle after miracle. God has shown up for them again and again. Still, they struggle with trusting that God will continue to show up. In Deuteronomy 1, the Israelites are poised to enter the promised land. They send out spies and scouts to check out the area. God has told them they will take this land. He has told them not to be afraid. He has even reminded them of all he has done to bring them there.

Still, the Israelites do not fully trust God.

The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.” (Deuteronomy 1:27-28 NIV)

As a result of their lack of trust, God forbids them from entering the promised land:

“You shall not enter it, either . . . And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

The lesson here? Ask God for his help and then expect him to show up in a big way.

Often, the way God answers a prayer is not the way we expect. I certainly never expected the cause of strife in my meeting to have another meeting scheduled and just get up and leave, but I absolutely rejoiced in that surprising answer to my prayer.

Later on in the story of the Israelites, Joshua is leading the army against the city of Jericho. God gives Joshua very specific instructions, He tells him to use his armed men. But rather than take the fortified city by force, God tells Joshua to simply march around the city walls for six days. He tells him where to place the trumpeters and the ark of the covenant. He even goes so far as to tell him that on the seventh day, they are to march around the city seven times, then blow all the trumpets, and the walls will come tumbling down (Joshua 6).

The response of Joshua and his people is different this time. Joshua doesn’t hesitate to communicate the plan to his armed warriors, and they follow him, not into battle, but on a march.

They trusted that God would do what he said he would do. Even though the plan seemed a bit weird, heavily armed soldiers going for a walk around the city they are planning to take over, they knew God would show up.

God wants to hear even your smallest requests, and he wants you to expect him to show up for you.

An agnostic friend of mine once asked me, “How do you know God loves you?”

I responded, “Because he doesn’t make me raise ugly chickens.” This made her laugh, but I was serious.

My husband is absolutely convinced that the Naked Neck Turken is the most amazing pastured laying hen, and that we should raise a lot of them. I did not consider this a hill I should die on, so I dutifully ordered a batch of what were, in my opinion, the world’s ugliest chickens. The week they were scheduled to arrive, the hatchery didn’t have enough to fill our large order. The same thing happened the following week.

Because we order batches of chickens on a schedule, if they didn’t come the following week, I couldn’t have any laying hens that year. The hatchery representative recommended I choose another breed of chickens. She just happened to have the two breeds I had originally wanted!

Jesus loves me, this I know, for he does not make me raise ugly chickens.

Bring your great expectations to God. Ask big things of him. For he is able.

Annie Carlson is rooted like a turnip to the plains of North Dakota where she raises great food, large numbers of farm animals, and three free-range kids with her husband. You can find her with either a book or knitting needles in her hands as she dreams up her next adventure.

Photograph © Priscilla Du Preez, used with permission