Great Expectations

It snowed in Breckenridge, Colorado the other day, and my family and I were supposed to have been there to see it. To see the first snowfall of the season. To drink in the awe and the beauty that comes with a light snow covering the towering peaks surrounding the town. And when I heard that it had snowed, I felt sad. I felt guilty. I felt I was to blame for the fact that we didn’t get to see that.

You see, we had planned an 8-day family vacation in Breckenridge but only managed to stay in Colorado for 48 hours. And that was because, within a few hours of arriving at our hotel, I was in the emergency room receiving IV fluids and supplemental oxygen. Acute mountain sickness and hypoxemia strikes at random for both visitors and locals alike at higher elevations like Breckenridge. I was sent back to the hotel with supplemental oxygen and told to reassess in the morning. When I didn’t feel great improvement the next day, my family decided the wisest choice would be to head back down to a lower elevation and go home.

I was devastated. I had such great expectations for this vacation. The mountains are where my heart feels at home. Heck, my heart skipped a beat when I caught my first glimpse of the mountain range as we flew into Denver. I couldn’t believe we had to leave so soon. And it felt like my fault.

But was it?

The shortest vacation to ever vacation has had me mulling over the question, "How should we react when our great expectations in life go unmet?"

What do we do when a dream vacation gets cut short? What do we do when something has gone wrong with our health and doctors have no answers? (My MRI’s came back clear, by the way.) What do we do when there is an answer to poor health but there is no treatment? What do we do when we don’t get that job we wanted so badly and worked so hard for? What do we do when we’re single but all we want is to find “the one” and be married? What do we do when we want to start a family but we can’t conceive and no one can tell us why?

What do we do when our great expectations go unmet?

Well, as Christians, we often blame lack of faith. We question if our faith is too small. We get told by well-meaning friends that everything would work out if we just had more faith.

An automatic assumption is, if we have more faith, all of our great expectations will be met.

But is that really the answer?

Sometimes. After all, the Bible does spend a lot of time addressing our need for faith and how easily we are found lacking in this area and it talks about how we have not because we ask not.

However...

It also addresses the hard truth that sometimes painful situations bring glory to God better than our comfort does. 

And I think that truth is the harder pill to swallow.

It’s much easier to tell each other and ourselves that the pain in our lives is due to our own shortcomings. Our own lack of faith. And it’s a lot harder to accept that our pain could be a tool for bringing God glory.

I want you to remember the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. He experienced pain in death, and his family and friends experienced great grief and pain in losing someone they loved. But in response to the news of his death, Jesus told His disciples, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” (John 11:14-15a) He was glad? How could He be glad? Because it would bolster their faith in Him when they His power displayed in raising Lazarus from the dead. He would receive the glory.

Consider also the blind man spoken of in John chapter 9. “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (John 9:1-3) The blind man wasn't blind because of his own shortcomings, but so that Jesus could display God's power in healing him.

And consider Paul, who, having a physical ailment, asked God to heal him three times and each time was told “no” because God’s strength would be made perfect in Paul’s weakness. “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) Paul was content with his weakness because God's strength would be made evident through it. Paul was content with his unmet expectations "for the sake of Christ".

Please don’t misunderstand me. We should all be constantly re-evaluating our faith and discerning what areas of life in which we need to trust God more.

But, friends, what would happen to our outlooks on life if the first question that entered our minds upon facing a trial wasn’t, “Is my faith too small?” but rather, “Is God’s glory worth more to me than avoiding this pain?”

A Christian counselor once asked me that question during a time when I was letting fear rule many different areas of my life. He said, “If the worst case scenario of what you are afraid of were to happen, would it be worth it to you to walk through it if God received glory from it?”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that perspective changes everything. I forget too easily to take it into consideration. But when I do, I find freedom. I no longer have to work to neurotically control everything in my life. I no longer have to sit in self-pity and self-blame and self-doubt over every unmet expectation. Because, let’s face it. Sometimes things in life simply just happen. It’s a result of living in a sin-cursed world. Sometimes you hold responsibility. But more often than we let ourselves think, things have just happened to us. And we are simply along for the ride. And let me tell you, the pain of this life will drive you crazy if you do not start learning how to let it go and trust that God will use it for His glory and your good.

That's right. We serve a God who deserves ALL of the glory, but despite how worthy of that He is, it isn't the only goal He has for allowing trials in our lives. He's also dedicated to using everything for our good. Forget snowy mountain tops, this is what is awe-inspiring. The God of the universe loves a sinner like me so much that He has promised to work everything for my good.

Romans 8:28-30 - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified."

Your great expectations will sometimes go unmet. But you can trust these unmet expectations in the hands of your sovereign God. He will always receive the glory. He will always work all things for your good.

Isaiah 55:8-9 - "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."