Anticipated Unexpected
Read Time: 4 mins
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV
The question of “what came first, the chicken or the egg” has come to be a metaphor for self perpetuating cycles. Chickens birth eggs and chicken eggs hatch chickens. If you start with a chicken, it's easy to think of an egg that came before it and if you start with an egg you have to think of a chicken that created it. Faith often works as a similar self perpetuating cycle. God shows some of His power and we in turn believe in Him more. But then belief in God prompts us to open the door of further faith and create the space and opportunity for Him to show more of who He is and what He can do.
God stretches faith by doing something big and unexpected, and in turn, we give God more space to work through our faith and expectancy. As we expect the unexpected from God, He comes through in anticipated but unexpected ways. And these open our eyes of faith to believe for more.
God promising to make all things work together for good is an exercise in this process. We don’t believe we will be able to afford college until God sends an anonymous donor to pay off our bills and we graduate with no loans. This builds our faith so that we can trust Him a few decades later when we don't know how we will pay for our kids tuition but know He will make a way. Our experience of sickness just creates an opportunity for God to show up as a healer. And that healing births a faith for us to trust Him during the next diagnosis. This process builds our faith to the point that we even trust God through disappointment, disability and even death. When you recognize that God will continue to creatively blow your mind in ways you couldn't imagine or put into words if you tried, you start seeing difficulties as a set up rather than a set back. When you are between a roaring sea and a raging army, you start looking around for a path to be made out of dry land because you expect God to creatively showcase His glory and power in unexpected ways. When you're thrown in a fiery furnace, instead of being worried, you expect the only things that get burnt off to be the chains and accusers that were holding you back. When your loved ones die, you still have faith that the God who came into the situation late will step into your dead situation and turn a eulogy into an alarm clock.
In one of my favorite movies, the Incredibles are a family of superheroes who all have amazing powers and fight amazing battles. And there’s a kid who lives in their neighborhood and because of what he's already seen, he continually comes to their house and sits on his tricycle on the sidewalk. He has the audacity to ride his tricycle up to their house when planes are falling out the sky, explosions are blaring and robots are terrorizing the city and once when asked what he was waiting for, he simply said “something amazing I guess.” How many of y'all may have been in this faith journey long enough to know what I'm talking about? When you say you can count it all joy when trials come because all you see is an opportunity to experience something amazing. I believe this world view will change our resiliency when we go through hard times.
I want you to assume God is good and everything He touches becomes good. I want you to assume with all the optimism and imagination you can, that God really does want the best for you. Now imagine. What's the craziest thing that could happen? You could just wake up and your marriage be healed? You could go back in time and have a better relationship with your parents or maybe even your kids? Maybe you could erase the effects of that mistake? Think past logic and physics. Maybe homelessness could be ended or world hunger irradiated. Now I want you to recognize that if you can imagine it or articulate it, it's too small. God wants to do things greater than what you imagine. God wants to accomplish what He said He would do in ways you can't even fathom. They’re too big for you to understand. And you just get to accept that and live in that reality. I know you made mistakes but maybe God can still use you. Yes, I'm talking to you with the secret sin and lack of biblical literacy. Commit your plans to the Lord and they will succeed. If God can use David and Moses, He can use you. If God can use a donkey to speak change into the life of wayward people, He sure can do the same with you. If God can turn water into wine while it's being poured, or multiply bread while it’s being broken, He can use you while He is sanctifying you. Don't limit the ways of God.
Let God be God and as you trust Him daily with baby steps, you will believe enough to give Him more space to move the next time. Trust Him to be vulnerable. He wants to do more. He wants to do more than you could script out. He does actually love you regardless of how illogical it is. Let’s accept it. That’s all that is left to do.
God can do more than you expect through this devotional. He has already shown it to me countless times. It’s often the devotionals i’m most insecure and doubtful of that God accomplishes the most through. As God prompts you, send this devotional to 3 friends who need a push in their faith. The Bible says we can pray for more belief. And i’m praying with you.
_
You can subscribe through this website or text the word “thoughts” to (844) 750-0137 to receive free devotionals like this to your phone.
I also want to thank you for donating. This ministry is kept free and thriving because of the support and sacrifice of readers like you. Anything helps in this endeavor to simply and practically reveal Jesus and His gospel through these encouraging devotionals. You can donate through the donate tab on the website or through $ThoughtsByPace on Cash App.
