Expectations

I wonder how many children yesterday received gifts that were on their wish list to Santa.  I suspect that most of them did.  I can imagine the excitement when opening their presents to see which items on their lists had become reality.  And I think that maybe somewhere there may be one or two who are a little disappointed when they discover that not all on their endless list has been granted.  After all there is a limit to how much parents can spend.  But it does mostly seem to be the case that what is asked for is received, with great anticipation, excitement and joy.  I'm sure we can all remember how difficult it was to go to sleep on Christmas Eve.  We just wanted the morning to be here so we could open our gifts and see if our hopes had been realised.

Of course as we get older, we (well most of us!) don't get quite so excited and are not quite as demanding in what we want to receive.  I'm happy to say that I didn't get anything that was not according to my taste or that I would find useful in some way.  They were all things that I had hoped for so I am one very happy lady today.


In ancient times, the Jewish nation had been promised a Saviour, a Messiah.  They hoped that a great leader would come and free them from the cruel rule of the occupying forces of the Roman empire.  A number of zealots had arisen, and fallen, in the past but they were still a nation that lived under oppression.  The might of Rome was too great for them to overcome.  A Deliverer had been promised and the people waited for many, many years.  

Not quite the mighty warrior the nation had hoped for.

When God did send a Deliverer, the Saviour, it wasn't in the form of a militant person, a sword brandishing warrior who would bring about an uprising against the Romans.  It was the opposite - a baby.  God certainly works in mysterious ways.  When Jesus claimed to have been sent by God and said that God was his Father, he was shunned by many.  How could this be the promised Messiah?  That wasn't what they had hoped for at all.  All that waiting, and for what?  Most Jews were indeed disappointed at the gift that God had given them and couldn't accept Jesus as the fulfilment of God's promise of a Deliverer..

We often have a wish list for God.  Sometimes when we pray it's almost as though we have a 'shopping list' that we reel off to him and expect him to answer our requests in the way that we want.  But God being God often does something quite different.  

Lord help me to see what it is that you want to give me.  Help me not to get disappointed when things don't happen in the way that I want but help me to see that through it all you want to show me your will and purpose for my life.  Thank you for the way that you have guided me and the things that you have shown me and taught me.  Help me never to underestimate that what I don't understand just might be exactly what I need.  Grant me wisdom and eyes to see your gifts for me.  So be it.