When we have unrealistic expectations for God to rescue us from the natural consequences of our behavior or the events in life involving ordinary causes, we will always be disappointed. This occurs because our trust is misplaced. Rather than trusting in His goodness, we expect Him to reorder His laws of sowing and reaping, as well as the curse of Adam’s sin on the world.
The world advises us to follow the leading of our gut, or to listen to the advice of our heart; however, these venues are highly deceitful and lean toward desperate wickedness (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Our flesh may attempt to pull us away from trusting in and waiting on God, because His timing is not instant enough for us.
God gave Abraham and Sarah the promise of a son, but then He waited over two decades to fulfill that promise – which caused them to devise plans of their own. We are still reaping the consequences of their choice even thousands of years later (Ishmael - Genesis 25:12 - and the Middle Eastern nations).
We also reap the consequences of our own insecurities, as well as our disappointed plans, decisions, and behavior. We rely on our self rather than the timing and gracious plans of God for our life. The miracle of God’s intervention in our life transpires when we allow Him to abide in our spirit.
He transforms our soul from one stage of maturity to the next, He is our Alpha and Omega, and He will complete the work He starts in our soul (2 Corinthians 3:18, Revelation 1:8; Philippians 1:6). God’s Spirit transforms us with His wholesome fruit, with the mind of Christ, and with Jesus’ holy nature (2 Peter 1:3-4; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 2:16).
Our self-reliance decreases and our trust in God increases as we constantly witness Him redeeming us from the carnal person we were to a spiritually minded person. He also intervenes in some circumstances beyond our control that He allows into our life so He can prove to us the consistency of His love and provision in our life (1 Peter 5:7).
Prayer:
Father God, teach us to stop trusting in our self, and to allow You to mature us to a place where we completely trust in You. Help us to eradicate our expectations, to enter Your rest in Your presence within our spirit, to wait on Your timing and perfect plans for us, and to place our trust entirely in You and in Your unconditional love. Help us to focus on Your desires that You place in our heart, and in Your intentional provision for our needs.
Praying with thanksgiving, no matter how long it takes for You to answer our need, is a key to Your contentment and peace flooding our soul – our thoughts, emotions, and choices. This puts us in a position to allow patience to have her perfect work in us, regardless of our circumstances. Patience will perfect us, and we will have need of nothing (James 1:4-8). We give You all our praise and worship throughout the day, and we even wake up from a restorative night’s sleep singing Your praises.
Thought for the Day:
God always proves Himself faithful to us by positioning us to walk in the perfect place and schedule to receive His divine protection, provision, and timing for our success in this life and throughout eternity; this allows our trust in Him to deepen, the fruit of God’s Spirit to abound in us, and for His love, peace, holiness, and joy to impact our life in positive ways that we could never even imagine.
- Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 3:20
