Expectation Transformation

I’ve been called an idealist. I tend to get a picture in my head of how I think something should go, and then when it doesn’t go that way (because let’s be honest, it rarely does), I tend to find myself disappointed, angry, or annoyed (or all 3 of those things). I came to realize that I had an expectation problem. I had planned for my life to be fully devoid of hardship, so that when each trial arose, I’d find myself more and more disillusioned with life and, even, with God.

Could it be that the problem all along was one of expectation? Where exactly in the Bible did God promise us a pain-free life? When I do even a short amount of searching the pages of Scripture, I not only find no such promise, I actually find the exact opposite.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

– John 16:33

This is not meant to scare us, but rather, to encourage us that while troubles have been promised, God has also promised peace and ultimate victory. Maybe we just need an expectation transformation, so that each time a trial arises, we aren’t so thrown, but rather, we stand firm, understanding that pain has its place, but that God is still greater.

Today, let’s check our expectations against the truth of God’s Word. It may just change our whole situation to realize that there is nothing that can come across our paths that He does not already have the victory over.