Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. Jeremiah 32:17
Late last Saturday night, I listened to a local weatherman deliver the overnight forecast. We were under (another) winter weather advisory and we were curious how bad “bad” was going to be. The weatherman put up his radar images and then his graphics with a forecast for 2-4 inches of snow. Then he made a very interesting statement. He said, “Our models were showing 9-10 inches of snow, but we think that’s way too high.”
By Sunday morning, we had nine inches of new snow.
Sometimes I think we fall into that same kind of low-expectation, low-balling when it comes to matters of faith. We read in Scripture how God is faithful, how He hears and intervenes in the lives of His people. We hear other people testify to God’s greatness and mercy. (I witnessed one this week, in fact.) We have evidence of God’s grace active in our own lives, too.
But even with those highly reliable models, often when it comes to stepping out in faith, we tend to revise our expectations downwards. Way down. “Sure, God did that then … for those people … but I think that’s a little too much to hope for in my situation.”
No, it’s not.
God’s actions are designed to showcase His deity. One of the primary ways He does that is by doing things only He can do. Our hardships are opportunities for God to display His power and our testimonies add to His glory.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of that because of low expectations.
Can you think of a time you were hesitant to bring something before God because you didn’t think He would actually take action? Is there something you’re holding back now?