Expectations

“According to my earnest expectation, that I will not be put to shame in anything.” (Philippians 1:20)

We all have expectations.  Expectations that something will happen, someone will come.  Expectations of what the weather will be, what our future will be.  Probably every day of our life is filled with some sort of expectation.  So, what happens when the unexpected brushes our expected aside? 

The Book of Ruth in the Old Testament is filled with three main characters.  Three characters whose lives started out one way, filled with expectation, but ended up much differently.  Naomi is our first character.  Naomi and her family lived in Israel.  She was married with two sons.  She expected to stay in Israel her whole life, see her sons marry Israelite girls, and give her grandchildren.  Then there was a young woman named Ruth.  She was a Moabite.  Ruth expected to remain in Moab, marry a Moabite, have children, and spend the rest of her life in Moab as a Moabite.  Then there was a man named Boaz.  Boaz was an Israelite who expected to marry a pretty little Israelite girl.  But as Boaz grew older without a wife, he expected that he wouldn’t marry at all but instead live the remainder of his life as the prosperous landowner that he was.

But within a short period of time, everything changed for all three of our characters.  Naomi moved to Moab because of a famine in Israel.  Her sons ended up marrying Moabite women.  But then her husband and both sons died.  One of the sons then left his mother with his widow, Ruth.  Then Naomi decided to return to Israel with Ruth.  By now, Boaz was an older man, expecting never to marry.  But then, everyone’s expectations change.  Or perhaps I should say their expectations were traded for a better plan that God had for each of them.  As a result, Boaz married Ruth.  Ruth became an Israelite.  And the bereaving Naomi was comforted and rejoiced.

No one’s life went as they had planned.  And neither will ours if we follow God.  Though our life may not go according to our plans, if we trust God they will go according to God’s better plans.  Those plans will be different, they may involve some pain and change.  But those plans will be perfectly fitted and suited for each of us.

So, give your earthly expectations to the Lord, and ask Him to place into your life his perfect plan.  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremaih 29:11)

And by the way, in case you didn’t know, Jesus Christ came from the lineage of Boaz and Ruth’s union.  Aren’t God’s unexpected plans for us perfect! 

                                                         Darlene