Expectation vs Reality

Have you ever set out to make something, but it didn't quite turn out the way you expected it to? Doesn't life feel that way sometimes?

A few years ago, my sister introduced me to a show called Nailed It. Three amateur home bakers compete to replicate the details and decorations on a professionally done cake. The resident professional baker shows the contestants how to perform the more difficult skills - like in one episode, he demonstrated how to make checkerboard cakes. They have a time limit for their works and must do their best to replicate the cake exactly. As you can probably imagine, the final products are not usually what the contestants expected them to be - and usually, they're quite hilarious. This can happen to anyone, though. From cooking a Pinterest perfect meal to having the perfect decorations for that milestone birthday party - there are many things we attempt to do and wind up with a less than ideal end product. Sometimes the reality just isn't what we expected it to be.

Sometimes we encounter life events that don't live up to our expectations. That amazing job you wanted is actually way more stressful and demanding than the last one was. The person that a few people told you would make a great friend actually doesn't care to spend much time being a good friend to you. The thing you wanted God to make happen suddenly doesn't fit into your life at all anymore. We set high expectations on this life, but sometimes we have to face that they just aren't going to be our reality. When things don't work out as perfectly as we envisioned, it seems easy to get discouraged. Did you make a bad decision? Is God not happy with how you handled the situation? Did you do something wrong?

"'My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,' declares the Lord." Isaiah 55:8

As much as we like to believe that we know what's going on with our lives, we really don't know. We can try to direct life the way we want it to go all we want, but in reality it won't ever work out as perfectly as we expect it to. We need to stop putting high expectations on our lives and remember who really is in charge of what happens. God will always make sure we have what we need. If we need something, He will provide it in the way that only He can. I love the verse that's featured above. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. If something isn't going the way we expected it to, maybe it's because God had something different in mind. We might not always see that the thing we want to happen isn't going to be good for us in the long run. It might not always be clear to us that a certain relationship shouldn't be taking such a high priority in our lives. When our expectation is not lining up with God's reality, He has to do something to intervene - even if it doesn't seem right to us. His ways are not our ways.

Take Jonah's journey into consideration. God told him to go to Nineveh and tell the people there to stop living in their wicked ways. What did Jonah do? He decided to take the next ship going in the opposite direction to the place that was furthest away - Tarshish. Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh to save the citizens from punishment. He expected that God would just up and destroy the city because everyone living in it was so wicked. There he was on the ship to Tarshish when a big storm broke out at sea. It was so bad that the crew couldn't safely navigate their boat any further - the Bible says that it was about to be broken up. When the crew found out that Jonah was a Hebrew and was fleeing from the Lord, they became worried because they didn't know how to solve the problem. Jonah could only think of one solution himself - throw him into the raging sea. The crew didn't exactly agree with him, but nobody else had a better solution so in he went. Jonah was swallowed up by a big fish immediately and was kept in the belly of that fish for three days and nights. During that time, Jonah prayed to God and asked Him for forgiveness. He knew what he did was wrong. After the third night, God spoke to the fish and it spit Jonah out on the shore. Once again, He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. This time, Jonah obeyed. He obeyed God and shared with the Ninevites how they needed to turn from their evil ways or their city would be destroyed in forty days. The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah and turned from their ways immediately - which is not what he expected to happen. Did you know that Jonah was actually angry because the Ninevites listened to him? He still had the expectation that Nineveh would be destroyed, even though the people turned from their ways. Jonah's expectation was not God's reality.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to end up like Jonah did. While the Bible never actually mentions when or how Jonah dies, the book of Jonah ends with a lot of complaining from him. Seriously, out of the eleven verses in the last chapter of Jonah, there are three verses of Jonah telling God that he wants Him to take his life because he's so angry. If my expectation is not God's reality, this is not the reaction I'd want to have. If something doesn't go the way I want it to, it's honestly probably for the better. I love Proverbs 3:5-6 so much for the wisdom that it offers. The first time I saw this passage was when I was in fourth grade - it was one of the verses we had to memorize for Bible class. I've known this passage for most of my life, but I never really thought about its meaning until recently. All we have to do is trust in God rather than ourselves and acknowledge Him (accept the fact that He exists) and He will direct us in the way that we should go. It sounds simple, doesn't it?

As simple as this sounds, it's very hard for a lot of people - mostly because of their expectations. Let's go back to Jonah for a second. He expected that God was going to destroy Nineveh rather than redeem it because the people inside were so wicked. Even after all was said and done, he was still waiting for God to destroy Nineveh as if He was joking about forgiving them. Jonah was heavily leaning on his own understanding rather than trusting God with all of his heart, and look where it got him: Asking for God to take his life because he was so angry about Nineveh and a plant that grew then withered away. It's not just Jonah who has struggled with this. We might not be in the same shoes, lamenting that an entire city was forgiven rather than destroyed, but I'm sure we've had things in life that we leaned more on our own understanding than trusting in God. It might be hard to let go of some situations, but giving it to God and trusting that He will lead you on the right path is the easiest solution. Right now, I want you to think about what's going on in your life. Do you have any expectations about a certain situation? Maybe it's time to let go of that expectation so you can step into God's reality. Trust in Him. Let Him direct your path.