The radio host mentioned that their company was going through staff evaluations. She finds the evaluation criteria “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” especially interesting. She continued, “Sometimes, we can’t help ourselves, and we try to evaluate the Lord’s work in our lives. What if we feel God is not meeting our expectations? But, what if He is not meeting our expectations in some circumstances now because He wants to exceed our expectations in the future?” What if we don’t get the job we applied for, because God has a better job coming for us? What if the healing we prayed for doesn’t come? Yet, we know God will wildly exceed every expectation when we all get to heaven. What ifs can go on and on, but some shouldn’t. Negative questioning can drive us crazy with worry. Conversely, positive what ifs can bring new opportunities, new inventions, new ways to live.
In 1 Peter 2, Peter lays out a hard-to-live truth: “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” Truthfully, it does not matter if we feel God is failing to meet our expectations or exceeding them. What matters is that we keep doing good, we keep loving, we keep following Jesus’ example no matter our feelings. We can trust that life following Jesus will ultimately exceed all our expectations. What if we are caught up in what ifs? For now, when we walk hand-in-hand with our Lord, He says, “Just hold on to Me. One step at a time today, and don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow. We can do this together.” Our powerful Savior “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3) Amen! ~Tracy