Great Expectations

On our final night at camp in the DR a local pastor came and challenged us with a strong message from the life of Samson (Judges 13-16). The talk was specifically directed at the college students who represented the majority of his listeners that night.

His point was that God had great expectations of Samson--and that He has great expectations of us. It struck me. Since becoming a mother, I fear that my desire to please those I respect (chiefly my husband and my God) can be motivating and stress-inducing. This desire to mother and helpmate well is largely self-imposed.

I think about it generally in terms of my children. God has expectations of their lives. They were created on purpose and with a purpose, yet God entrusted them to me to mother. I am constantly struggling with how to do my very best for God--not because my salvation depends on it. I really don't feel like I have a works-based faith, I just want to honor Him. I don't want to let him down.

Last night while looking for the quote I used in the previous post, I stumbled across this on Lysa TerKeurst's blog:

"My pastor put that to rest one day with a simple but very profound truth, “How can you let God down when you weren’t ever holding Him up?”

I had to choose to operate in the reassurance of God’s love, the remembrance of God’s grace, and the reality of God’s power. And according to Isaiah 41:10, God’s the one holding me up, not the other way around. Amen."

‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

So, today I have been thinking about what the Bible has to say about God's expectations. What does God require/desire from me?

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 NIV

May we not saddle ourselves with burdens that our Master did not place on us! Lord, grant us the discernment to know what You want from us versus what our flesh and pride just desire to prove.