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When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations (Part 2)
How should we respond when God doesn’t meet our expectations? In Part 1, I described the disappointment other believers and I felt when our church’s brokenness increased despite our prayers and peacemaking efforts. Like the first-century Jews who yelled, “Hosanna” (save now, John 12:12-13) as Jesus rode by, we yearned for God to intervene and solve our problems. Yet, Jesus’ definition of salvation differed from his fellow citizens’… and ours.
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (John 12:12-19) wasn’t the only one during the Passover season. Another entry offered a competing vision and strategy for victory. Imagine joining the festival crowd.
Rome’s Response to the Passover
The Roman governor Pilate makes an annual trip from Caesarea to Jerusalem during the Passover season to keep the peace and conduct trials.[1] His entry utilizes an awe-inspiring procession to highlight Rome’s power and glory and discourage any thoughts you might have of rebellion or liberation. Around one thousand soldiers and many administrative officials will probably accompany the governor.[2] All intended to impress and intimidate.
Sadducees, Pharisees, and ordinary folks will line the parade route, each eager to enhance their standing in the governor’s eyes. Rome, after all, oversees the Temple’s affairs, appointing the chief priest from among the Sadducees and granting the Pharisees limited administrative power. You, too, might gain a financial and judicial advantage by honoring Pilate. Yes, those beholden to Rome do what’s right in their own eyes, like the Israelites in the time of the judges. They fashion a faith that allows them to maintain their positions and power while still claiming to be faithful to God. But if you want to stay on Rome’s good side, you must support her officials, even if it means compromising your beliefs.
Consider Your Options
Two entries, two processions, and two kingdoms. Both crowds expected benefits from their participation and hoped God would meet their expectations. Pilate’s gathering hoped for fiscal and political gain. Those following Jesus dreamed of military dominance and deliverance. The leaders, as well as the spectators, differed. Pilate came to maintain law and order, while Jesus came to fulfill the law and overturn the current order. Pilate’s kingdom depended on the weapons of the world—domination, manipulation, and coercion. Jesus’ kingdom relied on self-sacrifice, service, and submission to his Father.
What about us? We must decide which parade to attend and which leader to support. Will you attempt to straddle the fence by attending both? Reality demands we choose. We cannot follow both Jesus and Pilate. Will you:
- Construe God’s Word through the lens of culture and convenience to permit what’s popular or view societal norms through Scripture?
- •Conform to the world’s values or allow God to transform us into people who love and live like Jesus, surrendering to God’s will and Word?
We must decide, and our actions reveal our decisions. Our loyalties define our identities and determine our methods.
When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations
I, too, choose how to respond when conflicting agendas escalate into personal attacks. Not only has God not intervened to defeat those I consider adversaries, but he also demands I love and pray for them. Not a love that condones sin but one that shows itself by obedience to Scripture. He reminds me my assailants aren’t his enemies, and his ways aren’t mine. Will I submit and trust his wisdom to accomplish his purposes in his way in his time? Or will I manipulate circumstances and people to achieve my version of what’s right? I pray daily for the ability to see the situation through God’s eyes and the grace to respond in a way that meets his expectations.
Our response when God doesn't meet our expectations reveals whether we follow Jesus' way or Pilate's. #PalmSunday #triumphalentry #lookingforgod #followinggod #followingjesus Click To TweetWhat about you? Which parade are you attending? How do you respond when God doesn’t meet your expectations, when his thoughts and ways differ from yours? Share your responses to join the conversation.
[1] Brent Kinman, “Pilate’s Assize and the Timing of Jesus’ Trial,” Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 2 (November 1991): 283, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000845835&site=ehost-live.
[2] Brent Rogers Kinman, “Jesus’ ‘Triumphal Entry’ in the Light of Pilate’s,” New Testament Studies 40, no. 3 (July 1994): 442-445, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000881681&site=ehost-live.
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When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations (Part 1)
Broken relationships and troubling trends assaulted our church. I joined other believers, begging God to save our fellowship. We pleaded for him to intervene, yet conditions worsened as one group tried to force its way on the other. How should we respond when God doesn’t meet our expectations? Scripture reveals folks who faced the same dilemma. We find them lining a Jerusalem road with their cloaks and waving palm branches on the day we call Palm Sunday.
Passover ~ A Time of High Expectations
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated God’s deliverance of his people from Egyptian bondage. The annual festival reignited national pride and dreams of freedom from oppression. Many yearned to see their country redeemed and restored to its former glory. Hopes ran high that God would meet their expectations by sending his long-promised Messiah soon.
Since Jewish law required all Jewish men to attend the feast, Jerusalem’s population swelled from 50,000 to 120,000. Imagine you’re in that number. You’ve made the eighty-mile trek from Galilee with your family and friends, enjoying the camaraderie and relief from daily chores. The crowd swells as you near the city. Jerusalem can’t accommodate all the pilgrims, so you and your family camp on a hill on the city’s eastern side.
You see Jesus and his disciples in the distance and race to welcome them, struggling to glimpse the famous rabbi in the growing crowd. You’ve heard stories about his healing the blind and lame, casting out demons, and raising Lazarus from the dead. Your heart pounds and skin tingles as you wonder whether he might be the one who will overthrow your Roman overlords. As he comes into view, you notice he’s riding a donkey, and you remember Zechariah’s prophecy (Zechariah 9:9). Despite longing for a conquering king on a warhorse rather than a plainly-dressed rabbi on a donkey, you join the deafening cheers and jubilation by waving palm branches.
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Psalm 118:25-26; John 12:13The palm branches symbolize your Jewish identity and passion for freedom. “Hosanna,” meaning “Save now,” is your plea but also a slogan of the ultra-nationalist Zealots. Although you’re not a radical, you’ve had your fill of Rome’s heavy-handedness and harassment. Could this be the time? Might Jesus be the Messiah?
When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations
Like the first-century Jews, my praying friends and I wanted God to “save now,” and we assumed he would act the way we thought best. Jesus’ contemporaries expected a military leader who would deliver them by defeating Rome, but he rejected their game plan. We hoped God would rescue our community of faith by changing hearts, but the polarization increased.
Have you been there? You plead with a heavy heart and knotted stomach that God will answer your prayers one way, but he either answers another or seems to do nothing. What then? What happens to our faith when God’s salvation doesn’t match our predictions, when he doesn’t meet our expectations? When he insists on acting like a suffering servant instead of a conquering king? When he appears to let evil win?
History describes another triumphal entry that occurred in Jerusalem during the Passover season. In the next post, we’ll examine the other procession, one that offered a competing vision and strategy for victory. Then, we must decide which parade we’ll attend and which leader we’ll follow.
When God doesn't meet our expectations, he has a better plan in mind. #answerstoprayer #whengodsaysno Click To TweetTo read “When God Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations (Part 2)”
When has God failed to meet your expectations? Have you discovered his better plan yet? Join the conversation by adding your comments below.
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How to Understand God’s Question: “Where Are You?”
A new year allows us to start over. God challenges us to use this season to question our priorities, activities, and relationships and align our primary concerns with his.
As I prayed about my focus for 2024, God drew my attention to the word “listen.” I need to listen to him more carefully this year. “Hear” and “listen” are the same in Hebrew (shema) and include the assumption of obedience. To hear or listen is to obey. So, my obedience (or disobedience) reveals whether I’m listening.
We must determine where we are before discovering where God wants us to go. Since this is the start of a year, let’s consider the beginning of the story God tells in Scripture.
Listen to the Context
“God created mankind (Hebrew: adam) in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). God created both males and females in his image. Then, he gave humanity a mandate to create a culture that honored him. He calls us to partner with one another and him to:
- Reflect God’s image to the world.
- Reproduce physically and spiritually.
- Reproduce physically and spiritually.
Adam and Eve, however, listened to another voice in the garden, one encouraging them to question God’s words and rebel against his authority. Too late, they realized the consequences. After yielding to temptation, they fashioned fig-leaf clothes to hide their newly discovered nakedness. When Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden, they hid. “But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9).
Why would the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Creator of the universe ask such a question? How could he not know where Adam was?
Examine the Question
Hebrew has two words for “where”—one (eyphoh) refers to location, and the other (ayyeh) refers to an expectation born out of a relationship. The biblical author used eyphoh when “Naomi questioned Ruth, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work?” (Ruth 2:19). Naomi asked the location of the field Ruth worked in. The writer used ayyeh when God called to Adam (Genesis 3:9). He used ayyeh again when Gideon quizzed the angel, “Where are all [God’s] wonders that our ancestors told us about?” (Judges 6:13). Based on their relationships, God and Gideon had expectations of the other party.
Rather than seeking Adam’s location, God asked Adam why he wasn’t where God expected him to be, which was by God’s side. One preacher paraphrased God’s question, “Why are you where you are?” Why, indeed? God desires that we remain in his presence. Instead, Adam hid like a disobedient child from a parent, overwhelmed with shame and guilt because of who he was and what he’d done. He defended himself, expressing fear because he was “naked” (Genesis 3:10).
The similarity between the Hebrew words describing the serpent as “crafty” (Genesis 3:1) and Adam’s explanation that he was “naked” leads us to wonder. Was the author accusing Adam of adopting the snake’s deceptive tactics? We know Adam didn’t hide because he lacked clothes since he had covered himself with fig leaves. Plus, he later blamed God (and Eve) for his willful disobedience (Genesis 3:12). Adam hid because his sin exposed his soul—his center of being—and he felt worthless.
Despite knowing what Adam and Eve had done, God searched for them, seeking to restore his relationship with them. When they responded to his call, God offered our first ancestors the opportunity to confess.
Personalize the Question
What emotion do you imagine in God’s voice when he called to Adam? Do you hear anger or accusation? I suspect anguish, God’s grief over a broken relationship, and an invitation to restoration.
God also searches for us even though we, too, have dishonored and disappointed him. He yearns for us to repent so he can repair our broken relationship and partnership with him. His mission hasn’t changed—he still calls his image-bearers to God-honoring relationships and to make his name and love known in the world.
The beginning of the year is a prime time to recognize that God is asking us the same question he asked Adam, “Where are you?” Not where are we physically, but where are we spiritually? Are we by his side as he desires? James encourages us:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James 4:7–10Reflection
Consider these questions as you evaluate your priorities, activities, and relationships in your quest to partner with God and others to create a culture that honors him:
- How did Adam and Eve’s rebellion distort God’s image? How does yours?
- Name ways your words and actions lead to the reproduction of faith in your family, friends, and others. In what area(s) do you need to improve?
- Where do you reveal God’s heart as his representative?
- How will you answer God’s question: “Where are you?”
