"Adventures In God" Part 2

   In our relationship with God and experience of Him, we may miss much if we fail to expect much.

    "Let Thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee" (Psalm 33:22).  

   Our Heavenly Father's presence and working in our lives encompasses far more than we can fathom as He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will," and as "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28).  We cannot begin to know all of His grace and mercy as bestowed upon us in Christ.  We can likely know more than we do, however, and expectant hope regarding God's working in our lives opens our eyes and hearts to see "according as we hope in Thee."  Conversely, failure to believe that our Lord is present and active on our behalf may mean that we fail to account for glories that will fill our being with the Light of His life.  As Jacob declared at Bethel after beholding the angelic ladder, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" (Genesis 28:16).

   Our Father may actually withhold activity on our behalf if we do not choose to expect such beneficence.  "Ye have not because ye ask not" (James 4:2).  Faith and hope are inseparable companions, along with the love of Christ that inspires and energizes both (I Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 5:6).  If we fail to consistently expect God, a severe deficit exists in our knowledge, understanding, and application of what it means to genuinely trust Him.  Thus, the Lord may allow us to experience the fruits of unbelief in order to reprove and correct our unbelief.  "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).

   Adventures in God require the confidence that He purposes to fill our lives with both the fact and the realization of His life.  Again, we cannot see all.  However, we can all likely know more than we do of our Lord's gracious working on our behalf.  Expectation leads to the realized experience of God as faith opens our eyes to Jacob's realization: "Surely the Lord is in this place!"  Let us fill our hearts with hope by exposing them to the Scriptures whereby "faith cometh" (Romans 10:17).  We shall not be disappointed, and a life of Christ-inspired anticipation will illuminate both our hearts and the hearts of those with whom we live…

"They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed."

(Psalm 34:5)

Tomorrow:  Hope and the glory of God.

Weekly Memory Verse

   All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.

(Matthew 11:27)