Expectations

I am taking this great equipping class at my church led by my friend Curtis called Jesus and the Gospels. I've been mulling over something I learned in class on Sunday all week. We discussed Judas and why he betrayed Jesus. This is something I've never really thought about before. I just assumed it was because he was influenced by Satan, which is true, but Curtis brought up another possible contributing factor:

Disillusionment.

The Jews had been waiting expectantly for the Messiah to deliver them, as God promised them, which was good. The problem was, they were expecting a political leader, and for instant relief from the oppression they were experiencing from the Romans. They thought the Messiah would come in and usher in His kingdom NOW. These were wrong expectations. They were looking for the wrong thing and totally missed Him. Judas was a Jew, so he grew up expecting the same stuff. Then comes Jesus, he jumps on the bandwagon and is waiting expectantly for Jesus to bring the smack down on the Romans. He doesn't do that, and it becomes clear as he's talking about His own death that he has no intention of overthrowing the government. He gave everything up to follow this guy who was not who he thought He was. He was looking for the wrong guy and missed it all. Maybe he was hoping to put some fire under Jesus' butt & make Him be the political hero he was "supposed" to be. Maybe he didn't even think Jesus was the Messiah at all. We don't know,, but he clearly missed the point because his expectations of the Messiah were based on assumptions, desires, opinions, rumors, a bunch of things NOT including the Word of God. Curtis said in class, "When expectations are unmet, people do crazy things."

So this BLEW MY MIND a little, and I started thinking- What poor expectations do I have of God? I can think of several things right off the bat: Ease and comfort, Safety, To be liked by people, For my life to play out how I envision it, Financial comfort that I have decided is acceptable, Health for myself and my loved ones. These are really just a few of the things that I know I expect to be the case in my life, and if they were compromised, I would be very upset. I realized this a lot when we were robbed & our dog, Gimli, was stolen last year. I was so so so angry with God because I was expecting my happiness and safety to never be compromised, and that crossed way over the line for me.

I realize now I was expecting something from God He never promised, but I so badly wanted, and it made me crazy, angry, and even disillusioned. In taking the example of Judas, poor expectations can drive us away from God in a really scary and extreme way. I absolutely do not want this in my life. I'm praying that God will show me these poor expectations I have of Him and help me leave those behind, and ground myself in what I can expect, which is promises of God from His Word .