Read Acts 17:1-9
" ... on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. 'This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,' he said" (Acts 17:2,3).
What Does This Scripture Mean for Us?
How do you react when God fails to meet your expectations? When life goes in a way you are certain cannot be something God wants for you or would do in your life?
When Paul preached to these Jews in Thessalonica, he showed them that God's work in Christ as Messiah was totally unlike the conquering deliverer first century Judaism was expecting. Their expectation for the Messiah was someone who would come in power and might to overthrow Roman domination and make a political-military power out of Israel once again. They were not expecting a Messiah who was be ridiculed, tortured, and crucified by Rome.
When I am sick or need something, I expect God's presence to come to me through the Holy Spirit and make Christ my healer and provider. In the last few months, my wife has been diagnosed with a chronic heart condition. She spent two separate stays in the hospital while doctors juggled medications to get her heartbeat and heart rate stabilized and functioning as it should.
In this situation, God did not meet my expectations. After all, I've been striving since the age of 6 or 7 (a looonnng time ago now) to serve God and live for Him. My wife has known Christ as her Savior and loved and served Him since her earliest memories.
Naturally, we expect the Messiah to be the one who heals and delivers us -- not the one who puts us through hospitalizations and daily medication. (If nothing else, with today's health care costs in America, the financial aspects of this alone are almost more than we can handle. And that's WITH insurance!)
Our reaction to all this was not good, initially. We were much more like those of "little faith" Jesus chided than we were like those heroes of faith in Hebrews 11!
Then we listened to what God was saying to us, His work in our lives, and we got over it. Or at least we are "getting" over it. Accepting God's ways in our lives, especially when they differ from our expectations, is an ongoing thing after all. Life is a journey, not a particular location.
How are you going to react to God in your life today when and if he fails to meet YOUR expectations?
