This morning, an old movie came to mind. A statement one of the actors said to his friend has stayed with me for many years.
In the movie, he had come to the end of his life when he made this profound comment, “my life wasn’t what I hoped, but it was exactly what I expected.”
What a sad thing!
Hope is defined as, to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. To expect, is defined as to consider probable or certain.
Hope and expectation should align together in the life of a believer – but for many they do not.
Some hope things will get better. They hope they will get healed. They hope they will get out of debt. But they don’t really expect anything to change.
While their desire is obtainment or fulfillment, they are not certain it will happen.
This is a problem, at least according to the Word of God.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-8
A person who wavers, who believes God one moment and doubts the promise the next moment, will not receive anything from God.
We cannot afford to waver – we must become strong in faith, like Abraham.
Abraham – in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Abraham believed God. He did not waver.
Even though he was way too old to have a child. He didn’t give a thought to his body or Sarah’s body. As they years passed, he stood firm. Not only did he stand firm, but the Bible also even says he was strengthened in faith. How do you become strengthened in faith, while it seems the answer is being delayed? How do you keep trusting God when you are not seeing your answer? Here’s how…
Abraham gave glory and praise to God for His promise. He also believed that God was more than able to do anything He said He would do.
The question is, “Do you believe God can do what He promised?” If so, “Do you believe He WILL do what He promised?”
Are you standing firm in faith, or do you find yourself wavering on the hard days?
If you find yourself wavering, take heart, you can change it. You only need to spend time in the Word of God, filling yourself up with what God says concerning your promise. You must stay in the Word, meditate on it, until you believe the Word more than what you see, feel, or hear.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, 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.
God has an expected end for us, will our expected end be what we hope for? Will our hope and our expectation align? I sure hope so. I pray at the end of our life we will say, “My life was what I hoped for and what I expected, God gave me my expected end.” How about you?
