Surrender or Expectation or Both

"For thus says the Lord : After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord , and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord , and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." (Jeremiah 29:10-14, NKJV)

A vehicle does not run according to its preferences, it only functions according to the manufacturer's specifications. The vehicle is an inanimate object and it does not have a free will; it will run only in accordance with the manufacturer's design if properly catered for by means of regular servicing. Human beings have free wills and can therefore choose to do whatever they want to do, either in conformity with God's plans or in rebellion to them.

God created mankind according to His own specifications and as He told prophet Jeremiah, His plans for us are for good and not evil. They are designed to give us a future and a hope, to make us function commensurate with the talents, gifts and abilities God has given us. God expects us to grow spiritually by virtue of the utilisation of the foundational gifts He has given us. In fact, God in His wisdom, foreknew that the utilisation of the foundational gift of faith would give rise to growth, maturity and fruitfulness. We are expected to add to the measure of faith we have been given (Romans 12:3) as follows:

"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:5-11)

Fruitfulness arises from the utilisation of the gift of faith that we have been blessed with by God (Romans 12:3). That foundational gift is to be enhanced by the addition of virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Shortsightedness and even blindness are the outcomes of a disregard for God's perfect plan. What is the point? The point is that we cannot afford to operate contrary to what we were created for. We cannot function excellently and efficiently if we neglect God's plans for our lives. We come to God not to get His approval for our tiny, myopic plans - we come to God to be conformed to the image of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour (Romans 8:29). We draw near to Him so that He will draw near to us, enabling us to live in accordance with His will for our lives, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, the question that arises is: Are you doing God's will or are you trying to implement your imperfect plan? Are you letting go in order to let God have His way? What expectation do you have? That God will rubber stamp your self-centred plan or that His flawless plan would be implemented in your life? Compared to God's plans for our lives, our own plans fall short of the standard (God's standard) for fruitfulness and success. True success can only be found through the wholehearted application of God's Word. The Bible is the manual for abundant life.

There are good expectations and bad expectations. Expectations not founded upon or rooted in God's Word are a waste of time and space and therefore bad expectations. Expectations that are preceded by total surrender to God are good expectations because they are in alignment with God's infallible Word. Surrender and true expectations can be considered to be two sides of the same coin because they complement each other. Alternatively, having an expectation without total surrender to God can be likened to building a house upon the sand. Such an expectation is like a mirage. It gives an appearance of reality but is fantasy rooted in wishful thinking. It gives false hope, raises the excitement level, thrills the flesh, increases the sensationalism index but delivers nothing, nothing at all. A complete wasteful, useless and fruitless exercise!

The Bible says, "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see....And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." (Hebrews 11:1,6,  NLT). Seeking God must be accompanied by a degree of expectation, otherwise seeking is pointless, and time-wasting. We must believe that God is the Rewarder of those who diligently and sincerely seek Him. To seek God, therefore, means that the seeker is expectant (of God's perfect will), that the seeker is a believer, that the seeker expects a reward, that the seeker expects change personally and otherwise, that the seeker is not walking by sight, that the seeker is convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that God is his or her All in all. Hallelujah! 

Surrender to God's will, expectation of implementation of His will and fruitfulness stemming from it must be the true Christian's preference and commitment. Our expectations must be rooted in God's Word. Everything we do or say must be in alignment with God's unchanging Word, the truth that sets captives free (John 8:32). We must surrender to God and our expectation must be in accordance with His will not our will. Hence surrender and true expectation go hand in glove. May the good Lord enable you to say YES to God, unconditionally, unreservedly and joyfully. Have a blessed day.