Culture today has a heightened state of depression, anxiety, and general malaise. Part of the reason for this pandemic of sorrow is mismanaged expectations – or just improper expectations period. When people expect things that are either impossible or generally unreasonable, the perpetual disappointment that they inevitably experience sets them back both emotionally as well as psychologically. Good spiritual health for a child of God is difficult to impossible in this condition. Paul indicated in Philippians 1:20 that he had both an “earnest expectation” and a “hope.” Talking about his situation, Paul distinguished the two by using hope to properly frame the expectations. Since hope is an earnest expectation of something desired, what distinguishes the two, how does one inform the other, and what good does that bring for us today?
Difference between the two: The difference between an earnest expectation and a hope is that one is desired (hope) while the other not necessarily so. For example, I have an earnest expectation that man is going to struggle with depravity until the end of time. I don’t desire this to be the case, but I expect it since the Bible promises it to be the case. I firmly expect that the devil will battle us until the day he is cast into the lake of fire. While I don’t want to have to battle with him every day, I do expect to find him every day waiting to cross swords with me. However, hope is something that I expect to happen while also fervently looking forward to it. For example, I expect the Lord to come back some day, and every day that I wake up, I long for today to be the day. I look forward to my body being fashioned like unto His glorious body, and one sweet day, it will be accomplished.
Hoping through expectations: Some people use hope improperly by “hoping” for something to be the case that is unreasonable. Hoping for a different outcome to the same set of actions/circumstances is not hope but patented insanity. Parents who refuse to parent their children have no reasonable expectation or hope that their children will “get it.” Voting for crooked people thinking they will “do it differently this time” is not hope but another set of mismanaged expectations. Real hope comes from not only having the proper expectation of the future, but also knowing WHO is in the future. In Philippians 1:20 Paul is in the midst of talking about circumstances that he had lived and was living through. Not all of those circumstances were pleasant or positive. However, Paul wasn’t ashamed in any of the things he was going through. What if in prison? What if on the mountaintop? Either way, God was still there, and God would be with him no matter what. In life and in death, Paul had an expectation that was managed by hope that God would stand true to every promise that He had ordained.
Present circumstances: While things have changed since Paul’s day, are the basics and blueprints of life any different now than they were then? Not really. Same God. Same foe. Same world. Same kind of people. Technology and other “advancements” haven’t changed the reality that God is the same, the devil is still evil, man is still depraved, and God’s family remains dear to Him and preserved by Him. What I go through today may look different from Paul’s circumstances, but he was a man of like passions as me with faith bestowed by God to him by the same measure as He has given me. Therefore, I should have my expectations of the future managed by a firm hope in who God still is and what He will still do. As a minister of the gospel, I get asked questions about the future quite often. Amusingly, I tell people that I’m a preacher not a prophet, but the few things I know about the future, they aren’t really interested in hearing. They want me to predict when God is judging our nation, what the outcome of election cycles will be, and what the result of things like this will look like. Quite frankly, I don’t know. However, my hope is based on something above all those things. I fully expect this world to wax worse and worse; I fully expect to go through rough seasons of life. However, I am not ashamed by any of these things because I fervently hope to live with Him in glory with all of you when this time world is no more.
Our world today continues to do things that are “right in their own eyes.” Christianity continues to talk about happiness at the expense of obedience. However, I hope the household of faith will continue to manage expectations through hope. I don’t hope to see things that God has not promised. Prayers shouldn’t in essence be “Lord, bless this mess” when facing problems of our own making. Worship should not be entered with “Lord, bless this sacrifice” when we come in our own way doing things our own way. However, prayer, worship, and the daily events of life can be hoped in when we say “Lord, Thy will not mine be done.”
God has not promised skies always blue.
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God has not promised sun without rain,
Peace without sorrow, joy without pain.
But God has promised strength for our day,
Rest when we labour, light on the way,
Grace for our trials, help from above,
Unfading kindness, undying love.
Though we have mingled sunshine and rain,
Clouds decked with rainbows, joy mixed with pain,
Let us still trust His mercies right on,
And sing His praises all the day long.
In Hope,
Bro Philip