THINK ABOUT IT 8-3-23
Call it intuition, a gut feeling, a guess, hope, or whatever, but I wasn’t surprised that someone was saved last Sunday morning and evening. I had expressed that to Bro. Kenneth and I was thrilled when I learned that another soul was saved after the evening service.
None of us are prophets, but sometimes we expect things that come true. Although we might not call it prayer, it’s as though God takes it as such and gives us the desires of our heart. Besides, I expected it because the church had actually been praying that God would bless our camp, and He did!
What God has done recently is wonderful. It reminds us that God does great things when we pray. That shouldn’t surprise us, for the Lord said, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”- Jer. 33:3.
Yet for some reason we sometimes fail to have any expectations of good things to happen. And the result is predictable – expect nothing and you get it. Some folks think that’s what we ought to do. Alexander Pope said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed’. But I believe it would be better if we had the attitude of William Carey who said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God”.
While it is wise to avoid unrealistic expectations, we have the reason, right, and responsibility to claim God’s promises. In doing so we have expectations based on the veracity of God. For example, when God says, “Your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58) we can expect fruit from our labor – success of some sort in our service. When the Lord tells us that we reap what we sow that is true of good as well as bad. Consequently we know that righteousness is rewarded. God will provide or perform what He promised – so we can expect good things to come. And knowing that produces great joy.
When we do what God expects we can expect great things from Him. In fact, we can even expect the unexpected – things we never imagined. If we desire what God desires and do what God demands we can live in expectation of what God does next. Think about it! – HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble, Tx.
