What do you expect?

What should we expect?Where do our expectations come from?

Cultural expectations change over time. People still pretty much do the same things they've been doing for generations, but the cultural norms of propriety have evolved.

Family expectations change with seasons of life, with maturity of kids, in retirement.

Expectations if unfulfilled lead to confusion, frustration, disappointment and possibly ANGER.

Is it ok to be angry with God? If you feel He’s let you down? Well, were your expectations valid, based on fact?

Let's play with semantics now. Is it ok to be angry BEFORE God?

Psalm 13 A psalm of David.

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing the LORD's praise,
for he has been good to me.

If David were to walk in to any of the "positive thinking" prosperity driven churches and speak as he does in Psalms, they'd probably say, “Shhh man! You’ll embarrass God! We only sing happy songs here!”

Can God Not handle our honesty? Is our relationship secure only if we speak nicely?

Look at where David arrives in verses 5-6. He voices his honest feelings, but with faith.

Can you be angry and maintain faith? Yes, IF we’re sure of the character and nature of our God.

What do we know about Him? Is He Father Christmas, our servant? A genie in a bottle who grants our every prayer?

What do our prayers reflect about our faith, the kind of God we acknowledge?

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Quote Collector said…
"Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas they become our difficulties." ---Ben Franklin