This lesson application and journaling prompt is based on the devotional Seeking God: How to Receive God’s Best for Your Life. You can also review day 2 and day 3 if you missed them.
I skipped church one Sunday morning and mollified my conscience by watching a tv preacher. The pastor on one particular segment was teaching on marriage.
My ears perked up.
He brought out a box and written on the front of the box was the word “Dreams.” Reaching into the box, the pastor brought out a fistful of fake dollars. “We have dreams about how much money we’ll have,” he explained.
Next came out a few dolls and a small decorative house. “We have dreams about how many kids we’ll have or the style of home we’ll live in.” He continued the illustration with a few more items, then he put the hopes and dreams back in the box.
“But when we get married, we hand our box to our new spouse,” he said, then he picked up the box and turned it around. The word on the box was no longer “Dreams” – now it was “Expectations.”
We all enter into relationships with dreams. Dreams that often become expectations of our partner.
Expectations are natural. They give us a framework of predictability and even responsibility that help us manage our busy lives.
The problem is that we can assign expectations before both parties have agreed to them.
Our marriage vows list expectations of love, faithfulness, and dishes and no one is surprised. Quite reasonable, we agree. Then we get home from the honeymoon and the battle begins. Whose turn is it to vacuum? Whose parents do we visit for Christmas? Heart-to-heart conversation or Netflix? We never talked about any of that, but we sure got married thinking we knew exactly how it should (and would) go.
But what really happens? Our expectations become burdens on the relationship because one person has assigned a responsibility that the partner didn’t necessarily agree to.
What would’ve helped dreamy fiancée avoid becoming disgruntled wife? A thorough pre-marital counseling program could’ve revealed our differences and established reasonable and loving expectations before the day we entered into a permanent relationship.
Let’s apply a little pre-marital counseling to our relationship with God. What did He promise us in His word? What should we expect from Him?
- And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29
- For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Matthew 16:27
- Come to Me, all you ho labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11: 28-30
- For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
- And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40
- He who believes n Me, and the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. John 7:38
- Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3
- If you love me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth… John 14: 15-17a
- And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20b
Stunning promises, far beyond the dreams we’ve put into the relationship. Higher and more glorious than our expectations. Even the best of our human relationships falter sometimes, but God keeps His promises. Now we know what to expect from God. Seek Him with joy.