Go to God with All Your Expectations and Honor God's Design for Your Home

So good to have you with us tonight. We do have outlines, I forgot to hand them out before the service, but if you want one, Kate's got some and Jeremy has some, just in case if you wanna follow along. If you don't wanna follow along, you don't have to, it's up to you, but they're there. And sometimes people like to have notes, and so it's sometimes it's better for us to give you an outline. Others are good at taking notes, others not so good, they need some help. And so hopefully this will help you, and it will help you understand and follow as we go along this evening.

So let's bow in a mode of prayer, and then we'll begin, all right? Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight. You are good to us, and we're grateful for the opportunity to meet in the middle of the week. We're grateful, Lord, for how you've supplied our needs in unique and special ways. We're thankful, Lord, that you brought us here safely, and that, Lord, in the middle of the week, we can open your word and study it and apply it to our lives. Our prayer tonight, Lord, is that you would help us to see those things that will enable us to live for your glory.

It's all about you, and it's all about how you are put on display in our lives, and we ask that you would help us to do that as we learn your word this evening. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You know, as human beings, we live in a state of expectation. All of our lives are built around expectations. You woke up today expecting certain things to happen. You expected to see certain things. You expected to be in certain places. Sometimes you made it, sometimes you didn't, but we expect things to happen this month.

We expect things to happen this year. We expect the next birthday celebration. We expect the next anniversary celebration. We expect the opportunity for us to get a new job. We expect the opportunity for us to be able to find that special someone and even then expect to get married. And based on that, the expectation of having children. But we live in this state of expectation. And unfortunately, so many times those expectations are diminished. Sometimes they are completely dashed. Other times they forever disappear.

But we live in a state of expectation. And so I wanna draw that into a specific arena. And that is the arena of our marriage and our family and the things that we expect to happen in our marriages. For instance, if you're a wife, you would expect that your husband is going to love you and he's going to lead you. You expect the fact that he is gonna be that provider for your life, that he's going to protect you through thick and thin. And then after you get married and you're married for a while, you realize that he probably loves himself more than he loves you.

And then you begin to realize that the expectation you had on your wedding day is not going to be fulfilled nearly the way you thought it was gonna be fulfilled because he has another love other than you and it's himself. And sometimes they fall in love with somebody else. And then again, your expectations are dashed. You would trust that he would lead you financially. He would lead you spiritually. And then all of a sudden he's not doing that. Then what happens? The expectation you had when you stood at the altar is no longer being fulfilled and that expectation becomes dashed.

On the other side, if you're a young man and you get married, you would expect that your wife would continue to laugh at your jokes as she did when you were dating. You would expect the fact that she would fawn all over you as you get older in your marriage simply because she did when you were dating. But then you realize that over time, she's not that way at all. She doesn't laugh at anything you say. She laughs at you more than she laughs at the jokes that you tell or the way you live your life.

And you begin to realize that she becomes a little bit cantankerous in her old age and she becomes like a dripping faucet, always complaining about things. And so your expectations are dashed. It happens to all of us because we live in a state of expectation. So what happens when those expectations are not met? What do you do then? Because if it's true that we live in that state and those things don't pan out the way we thought they would pan out, how do we handle that? And we find ourselves living in the realm of disappointment or even disillusionment as to what marriage is to be like, what life is to be like, what are families to be like?

We expect that when we have children, our children will obey us, they'll love us, they'll follow us, but then sometimes that doesn't happen and they rebel against our authority. They don't follow our direction and our expectations for our children are not fulfilled. We expect when we come to church that people are gonna fawn all over me and minister to me and serve me and greet me. And so we expect those things to happen, but a lot of times they don't happen. In other words, there are so many things that we expect to happen in life that never come to fruition.

So what do you do when that happens? There's a myriad of illustrations I could use, but I thought the best thing for us to do tonight is to go to the scriptures and look at biblical illustrations of people who had expectations that were not being met.

And what did they do? How did they handle it? So if you have your Bible, turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter one.

1 Samuel chapter one is a story of Hannah and how God remembers Hannah. And yet there are so many situations surrounding her life that was nothing but disappointment. And she was disillusioned as to what God was doing. The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel chapter one, verse number two, that Elkanah, who was her husband, had two wives.

The name of one was Hannah and the name of the other was Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Imagine what it must've been like as Hannah marries Elkanah. And she is thinking about her future and the opportunity to grow in this relationship with her husband and to have children, but she doesn't have any children. She's barren. And yet Elkanah would take for himself another wife, Peninnah. Now, I don't know about you, but that would cause all kinds of marital issues. While this is legal, while it's culturally acceptable, it doesn't make it moral.

And Hannah was unable to bear children. And so in order to continue the family line, in order to anticipate the arrival of the Messiah, men would marry other wives or have concubines and they would have children through them. We don't necessarily understand that, but that's exactly what they did. And barrenness was, in the mind of the Jewish culture, a curse from God. How do we know that? Well, the Bible tells us in the book of Deuteronomy, the seventh chapter, the 12th verse, these words. "'Then it shall come about because you listen "'to these judgments and keep and do them, "'that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant, "'His loving kindness, which He swore to your forefathers.

"'He will love you and bless you and multiply you. "'He will also bless the fruit of your womb "'and the fruit of your ground, your grain, "'and your new wine and your oil, "'the increase of your herd and the young of your flock "'in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. "'You shall be blessed above all peoples. "'There will be no male or female barren, "'among you or among your cattle.'" If you follow my statutes, if you obey my word, then your male and females will not be barren.

And so if you were a young lady and you were growing older and you were barren, it must have meant that you were disobedient to God, that you didn't keep the commands of God. Therefore, you were cursed. And that's why the Jews looked at barrenness as a curse. But Hannah, she was like Sarah before her. She was like Rachel before her, like Rebecca before her, like Samson's mother, because we don't know her name, just titled Samson's mother. She too was barren. And like Elizabeth would also be barren before the birth of John the Baptist.

And so Hannah would be thinking, am I cursed by God? Elkanah would be thinking, my wife is cursed by God. So I'll take for myself another wife and then I'll have sons and daughters. And sure enough, Peninnah had sons, plural, and daughters. So you pick up the narrative in 1 Samuel 1, and it says in verse number three, now this man would go up from the city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.

And then the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb. Now the text says that Elkanah loved Hannah. And so he would give her a double portion. You would think that if he loved Hannah, he would not take for himself another wife. I mean, if I'm Hannah, that's what I'm thinking, that you're solely and wholly devoted to me.

But he doesn't do that. She was barren because the Lord had closed her womb. Very important statement. It's the Lord who opens the womb, it's the Lord who closes the womb. And so here is Hannah. She is expecting a great married life. She's expecting to have children. She's expecting her husband's going to love her dearly. And then all of a sudden she has no children. And her husband takes for himself another wife. And so her expectations are not just diminished, they're completely dashed. But you read on.

And it says, her rival, however, which is Peninnah, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. Her womb. Now, imagine this in the household. Peninnah says, I'm going to the market and I'm going to take all of my children with me. Hannah, would you like to come with us so you don't have to stay home alone? Because you are alone. And so she would provoke Hannah. I'm not so sure how she did it, but it became a source of great tension in the family. You can only begin to imagine the tension between Hannah and Peninnah.

And Elkanah caught in the middle, trying to bring some kind of resolution to an already volatile situation. So the text says, verse seven, it happened year after year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her so she wept and would not eat. So it happened continually. And as they would go to the house of the Lord, it would be accentuated. And so here is Hannah going to worship only to realize that as she goes, her husband's other wife is bitterly provoking her. Provoking her on their way to worship the Lord.

How do you ever prepare your mind to worship the Lord when this is always happening? So even her expectation to worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness is being diminished by her husband's other wife. Verse eight, then Elkanah, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? No, spoken as only a male could say it. Aren't I your everything? No, you're not, because you evidently didn't think I was your everything and you married somebody else.

And so you really want me to think that you are better for me than 10 sons, when in all reality, everything that I had hoped in, everything that I had aspired to, all my dreams and all my expectations and all my aspirations were dashed when you took for yourself another wife. And now you wanna come to me and say, aren't I better to you than 10 sons? Well, the answer obviously is no, you're not. But Elkanah didn't see it that way, but Hannah did. So verse number nine, and then Hannah arose after eating and drinking in Shiloh.

Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, oh, Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and a razor shall never come on his head. She begins to pray. How many times does she pray this prayer?

I have no idea, but she prays it earnestly because it says that she was greatly distressed and she wept bitterly. She prayed it humbly because she wanted the Lord to remember her. She prayed it specifically because she didn't ask for a child, she asked for a son. She prayed sacrificially because she said, Lord, if you give me a son, I'll give him back to you and I'll make sure he takes a Nazarite vow. She prayed persistently because verse 12 says, now it came about as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli was watching her mouth.

As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Then Eli said to her, how long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you. But Hannah replied, no, my Lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman for I've spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.

She said, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. Now here is the greatness of the chapter. Are you ready? So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. Everything about her changed. Notice, her circumstances didn't change.

She was still barren. She had no children, but her circumstances didn't change. But her countenance changed, quite interesting. It says her face was no longer sad. Why? Because she cried out to the Lord. She poured out her heart to the Lord. She went to the only place she could go. I'm sure she had talked to Elkanah about this. I'm sure she had wept bitterly about this to him. I'm sure she had longed for some kind of comfort for her husband, from her husband, excuse me. But the comfort from her husband wasn't coming.

And the only person that she could cry out to was her God. So she did. She had to give all of her expectations to the Lord because Elkanah couldn't meet her expectations. Panina, she certainly couldn't meet her expectations. No one could except the Lord. So her countenance changes, but her circumstances don't. That's a person who gives their expectations to the Lord. And so read on. Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

It came about in due time after Hannah had conceived that she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, because I have asked him of the Lord. She arose, she worshiped, she went back, had relations with her husband, okay? Notice that the intimacy between she and her husband happened simply because she had already given everything to the Lord, meaning that she was freed up now to minister to her husband because she had relinquished everything to the Lord.

How long was this barrenness happening in her life? We do not know. But the fact of the matter is, is that God did a great work in her life. But amidst all of her unmet expectations, and they were probably many, she truly gave everything to the Lord. And therefore, everything about her changed and God would remember her and God would open her womb. She would conceive and she received Samuel, Samuel, meaning God hears. Her name means grace, and God has showed favor and grace to Hannah. That's just a great story of a woman whose expectations about life had been completely abolished.

So what does she do? The only thing you can do, and that's go to the Lord and cry out to Him. Let me give you another marital example.

Go back with me, if you would, to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 16. You know the story. It's a story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, the maidservant. Again, it's a marital situation. Abraham had been promised that he would be a father of a great nation and that his ascendance would be as the sand on the seashore. And so Sarah, his wife, is anticipating with great expectation a multitude of children, but she is barren and she's not getting any younger. And so she has a suggestion. What happens when we have these grandiose expectations is that when they don't or are not met on my timetable, then we begin to manipulate the situation and manipulate the circumstances so that things fall in my favor.

And that's exactly what Sarah does. She begins to take matters into her own hands. She begins to say, you know what? I have an answer for this. I know what to do. There was the infertility of Sarah coupled with the longevity of the seasons, which had been 10 years. She was not conceiving. And so she comes up with an idea. An idea that she believed would be the solution to all of her expectations, but it was the wrong solution. She would suggest to her husband, Abraham, that he would go into her handmaid, Hagar, have relations with her.

She would conceive. That child then would become the promised seed and that child then would be the beginning of a multitude of descendants and nations that would come from the line of Abraham. But that's not the way God designed it. But that's the way she thought she could manipulate the situation. I mean, it's been 10 years. How long do we wait for this to happen? Another 10? Well, she will. Another 10? How many years have to go by before I finally say, you know what, enough is enough.

It's time to take matters into my own hands so that all the expectations, aspirations, dreams that I have before me and my family can be fulfilled. And so she makes the suggestion to Abraham. Abraham should have said no, but he didn't. Abraham is the father of our faith. But Abraham made many, many blunders in his life, made some bad decisions. He had expectations. God had promised to be a father of a great nation. He was gonna send him to a unique land that would be his land. So he gets to the land in Genesis chapter 12.

His expectations are sky high because this is the land where God will build for himself a nation of people. And when he gets there, what happens? There's a famine in the land. Expectations are dashed. So what do you do? He doesn't pray. He doesn't seek the face of the Lord. He makes a logical decision, moves his family to Egypt. God never told him to go to Egypt. Never asked God about going to Egypt. He just decided that would be the wise thing to do. Things are uncomfortable in this land. So therefore, I'll go to another land where I will be more comfortable.

We understand that, right? We're uncomfortable in the state of California. So what's the logical thing? Move to Texas. I'm in New York, living in New York. It's an uncomfortable state to live in. So what do I do? The logical thing, I move to Florida. Of course, that's what I do. Same thing Abraham did. Nothing ever changes. Everything's always the same. Just a different era, maybe a different culture, but it's still the same. So he made a decision. Whatever you decide to do today will affect your destiny tomorrow.

They decided to go to Egypt. They decided to take Hagar back with them to be the handmaid of Sarah. And the decision that they made during that trip and with Hagar, the repercussions are still being felt 4,000 years to this day. You see, we forget that in the midst of our expectations, we expect things to go our way. We expect things to go well. We expect things that we're going to be happy and joyful. And when they're not, what do we do? We manipulate the decision-making process. We manipulate things to work out for my best interest, never seeking the Lord, never asking the Lord, never crying out to the Lord.

Just do what we think is best. You gotta be careful about that. You gotta make wise choices based on what God's word says and how God directs you. So Sarah, following the lead of her husband in the decision-making process, does the same kinds of things that he did by saying, you know what, we can make this thing happen. And Abraham doesn't argue with her. Hagar's a lot younger than Sarah is anyway. And so he's not gonna argue with her. He's just gonna take her advice and go with it. Instead of being the man of the house and saying, no, this isn't the right thing to do.

Honey, we need to wait. We need to be patient. We need to trust the Lord. It's gonna work out. Might not happen in our timetable, but God made a promise. He will fulfill it. Let's just wait. He doesn't do that. He abdicates his leadership. He does it. Hagar conceives. Hagar conceives. So now you can imagine the family dynamic, right? Sarah's barren. The handmaid, she conceives. So it says in verse four, Abraham went into Hagar. She conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

Well, what did Sarah think was going to happen? Did she think she was gonna be all hunky-dory because the handmaid conceives and now she's gonna have her husband's child, that she was gonna be happy with the end result? Oh no, she is despised in her sight. And Sarah said to Abraham, may the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me. I don't know about you. Just imagine the conflict in Abraham's tent.

I'm sure that the raising of the voices was heard all around the arena. And so, but Abraham said to Sarah, I behold, your maid is in your power to do to her what is good in your sight. Hey, this is not my problem. This is your problem. This was your idea. Your idea, your problem, you solve it. That's not leadership. That's not male leadership. That's not how a husband is to lead his wife. He is to say, honey, there's a problem here. We need to handle this thing together. Let me tell you what we can do.

Instead, he says, hey, you know what? It's your problem. You deal with it. So she does. So Sarah, I treated her harshly. And she fled from her presence. Treated her bitterly. So here's Hagar. Hagar has expectations too, right? She's just doing what she does as a handmaid. She's being obedient to her master. She's following through. She conceives. She's excited. She's doing it. She's an Egyptian handmaid. She's thinking, I'm never gonna find a husband. I'm never gonna have any children. All of a sudden, she conceives.

She's got a child. She's ecstatic. This is gonna be great. And wow, what kind of family dynamic is this gonna be? But it didn't turn out near what she thought it was gonna be. And so, verse seven, the angel of the Lord found her. And this is very important. Why? Very first time the phrase is used in the Bible.

The angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord, used several times in the Old Testament, is the pre-incarnate Christ. So the first time that the angel of the Lord is used in Scripture, is used by the Lord finding an Egyptian handmaid.

Talk about the graciousness of our God, the beauty of our Lord. Now, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, hey, Sarah's maid, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said, I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarah. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority. Whoa, wait a minute, I'm not doing that. You want me to go back into the arena of bitterness?

You want me to go back into the arena where I was treated harshly? You want me to go back into the arena where I am despised? So, moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply your descendants. So they will be too many to count. The angel of the Lord said to her further, behold, you are with child and you will bear a son. She'll call his name Ishmael, which means God hears, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him.

And he will live to the east of all his brothers. Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, you are a God who sees. For she said, have I even remained alive here after seeing him? Therefore, the well was called Bir Laharoi. Behold is between Kadesh and Bered, the well of the living one who sees me. Hagar, amidst all of her disappointment and disillusionment, recognizes not just that God hears, but God sees and knows everything. Hannah is reminded that God remembers everything. And she begins to understand that God is in control of her life.

Let's jump to another individual. His name is Job. You think Job had expectations? Oh, you bet. Job, in fact, had all of his expectations met. He was married, had a ton of kids. He had tons of camels and sheep, lots of land. He was the greatest man in the east, nobody greater. He feared God, turned away from evil. He was a blameless man. Everything was going great, full guns, no problems, until one day he loses everything, everything. He has no understanding as to why. He just knows what takes place.

If you're with us on the study of Job, you know the story. And then he loses his health. All this because Satan has a conversation with the Lord, and the Lord offers up Job to him, tells him that you can do whatever you want, but you can't touch him. Then he says you can do everything you want to him, but you can't kill him. So he strikes him with boils, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. And so now he's suffering physically. He's lost everything. He's suffering physically. And his wife, he would expect that of all the people that would support him, it would be who?

His wife, she'll be there for him. Yes, she's lost everything. She's lost all of her children. She's lost the same amount of money that Job's lost. She's lost the same amount of possessions that Job has lost, but she still has her health. And so he would expect that amidst all of his turmoil and pain, that at least his wife would be there to comfort him. At least his wife would be there to say words of encouragement. She's not a doctor, she's no physician, but at least she would be there to be by his side because she is the suitable helper for Job.

But the only time she appears on the scene and the only time she says anything is she says to him, why hold fast your integrity, curse God and die. Not what Job was expecting. He was expecting words of love and support. Words that would mean something to him. No, she can't relieve his pain. No, she can't bring back all the kids. No, she can't bring back all the livestock. No, she can't bring back all the servants. No, she can't do any of that stuff. But at least her words, her presence would be there to comfort him, but they were not there.

So he's visited by three friends. Three comforters, supposedly, three counselors. And he's sitting there as they come to visit him. And when they look at him, they are appalled and begin to weep because they don't even recognize they're a good friend.

So they sit with him. He's expecting that they're going to offer words of counsel, words of comfort, that they would be there in support of him during the most excruciating time of his life with all this pain. But again, his expectations are dashed because that's not at all what happens. In fact, he calls them miserable comforters, you all. And so in chapter 17 of Job, he says these words in verse number 15, where now is my hope and who regards my hope? Will it go down with me to Sheol? Oh, will we together go down into the dust?

This is where he sees his life going. He's going to die. His expectation is that he would be healed, that physically he would get better, but physically he's getting worse. All of his sores are oozing with pus and he can't sit, he can't stand, he can't walk. There's no way to gain comfort. Any cloak to cover him at night when he's cold is only just peeled off and just reopens all the scabs that are there over and over again. It's a daily routine. Thinking that his God will heal him, expecting God to intervene, but God is silent.

So all of his expectations for being healed are gone. So in chapter 17, he says, I guess I'm just gonna die. What else is gonna happen? I guess this is it. The remarkable thing about Job is that he never receives an explanation as to why, just a revelation as to who, that's it. Who's behind all this? God is. At the end, he repents in dust and ashes. In the end, God turns to captivity of Job when he prays for his friends. Not when he prays for himself, but when he prays for his friends. He cries out to God on behalf of his miserable comforters and God restores his health.

He gives him twice as much as what he had before. And you know the end of the story. Three biblical illustrations of expectations. Dashed, sometimes handled well, sometimes not handled well. But the bottom line is that no matter what your expectation is, you must go to God with all of them, not just some of them. The Bible says in Psalm 42, these words, verse number five, why are you in despair, O my soul?

Why have you become disturbed within me? Hope, trust in God. For I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. And then in verse 11, why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him the help of my countenance. In other words, the only one who helps my countenance, the only one who helps my appearance is the one who doesn't necessarily change my circumstances, but enables me by his presence to take me through my circumstances.

But I might trust him all the more. It says that again in chapter 43, why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I will again praise him the help of my countenance, the health of my countenance, my God. Who else is he going to trust in? You see, who else will you trust? Who else will you believe in? Who else will you depend upon? You cannot depend upon your spouse, although we think we should. You really can't, because they're caught up in their own issues.

But you can always depend upon God because God's never caught up in his issues. He has no issues. And so the psalmist then would go on to say these words in Psalm 119, verse number 114. You are my hiding place and my shield. I hope, I wait for your word. You're my shield. You're my protection. Therefore, I'm gonna hope for what your word says. The psalmist knew. That's why Romans 15, verse number four says, these things were written for your instruction that through the perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, you might have hope.

You might have an expectation geared in the right direction based on what God's word says. What was written in Genesis 16 was written for your instruction that you might have hope. What was written in 1 Samuel 1 in the book of Job was written for your instruction that through the perseverance of the scriptures, you might have hope. You might see what God has done, what God is doing. Trust him to do the same for you because you believe that only he can meet whatever expectations you might have. Sometimes those expectations are sinful.

Sometimes they're righteous. Sometimes you're just there. But only God can meet the expectations. And so the Bible will go on to say in Psalm 130, verse number one, out of the depths, I have cried to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. I wait, I trust, I hope for the Lord. My soul does wait. And in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, indeed more than the watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is loving kindness. Why do you trust him? Why do you believe in him?

Why do you hope in him? Because he is a God who bestows love and grace and mercy. And therefore, you must go to him with all of your expectations. Psalm 147, verse number 10. Psalm 147, verse number 10. The Lord does not delight in the strength of the horse. He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord is pleased and favors those who fear him, those who wait and trust and hope for his loving kindness. The Lord wants you to wait on him. The Lord wants you to trust in him. The Lord wants you to hope in him.

He doesn't want you to hope in the things you can see or the things that you can do or your own initiative or your own mindset or your own expertise or your own physicality. He doesn't take pleasure in a man's strength residing in his horses. No, he takes pleasure in those who wait up on him, who hope in him, who trust in him, who believe in him. You see, here's the point. You can't control anything. You can't control your spouse. You can't control your children. You can't control the weather. You can't control whether or not you make the ball team or don't make the ball team, whether you're first string or third string, whether or not you make this much money or that much money, whether you have children or don't have children.

Whether you are married or not, you don't control any of that. You think you do, but you don't. You might have influence over those things, but you can't control it. There's only one thing you control. Only one thing in life can you absolutely control 100%. It only depends on you and no one else. Only one thing. And that is the choice that you make to put God on display in those unmet expectations. That's the only thing you can control. You can control whether or not you will give glory to God or you won't.

Because that solely depends upon you. Solely depends upon you. So you can put God on display. You can magnify His glory in the midst of your disappointment or in the midst of your excitement. But the choice is yours. You can decide to magnify His name or malign His name. That's the only thing you can control. That's why, that's why, and here's the principle, is that you need to acknowledge His sovereignty, thus accept your responsibility so therefore you can appropriate your ministry. But you must acknowledge His sovereignty.

He's in charge, you are not. He's in control, you are not. You can't control your husband. But ladies, I know you want to. Men, I know you want to control your wife. You can't. As hard as you try, you can't. Can you influence your husband or wife? Yes, you can. But you cannot control them. Can't control your children. Can't control your boss. Can't control anything. Except one thing, whether or not you will glorify the name of the Lord in every situation in life, that you control. And no one else controls it for you.

You control yourself. So the Bible says these words in Isaiah 40 verse number 27, why do you say, oh, Jacob, and assert all Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord?

And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God. Why do you say that? Why do you say that, Lord, you're not meeting my expectations? Why would you come to the conclusion that God is not listening to you? Or that whatever happened to you has escaped God's omniscience? But we tend to think that way when all of a sudden, our expectations are not being met. That somehow my plight has escaped the notice of my God.

That evidently he has stepped off the throne just for a moment, and therefore is no longer in control of my marriage or my family or my situation. But he never takes a step off the throne. His sovereignty rules over all. But Israel is unwilling to acknowledge his sovereignty. And if they don't acknowledge his sovereignty, they can accept their responsibility to glorify the name of the Lord. And if you don't accept your responsibility, you'll never appropriate the ministry that God has entrusted to you.

And so the answer is, do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases power, though youse grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly. Yet those who wait on the Lord, those who trust in the Lord, in other words, it's a Hebrew word that means to wrap yourself around the Lord. That's what it means to wait upon the Lord.

You wrap yourself around him. Those who wrap themselves around the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with the wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. Isn't that a familiar verse in the book of Jeremiah? Jeremiah chapter 29, you know it well. Verse number four, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. God was sending Israel into exile. He was in charge. He was doing this.

They did acknowledge he was in control. You're going into captivity for 70 years. I did this, God says.

Verse 10, for thus says the Lord, when 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for your calamity, to give you a future and a hope. I got a plan. The plan is right on schedule. And then he goes on to say this, then you will call upon me and come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your hearts.

That's what I want for you. I have a plan. That plan is not for your calamity, but for your prosperity. But in order for that plan to be fulfilled, I have a place for you. And the place is the place of adversity. And when it's all said and done, at the very end, you are gonna cry out to me and you're gonna seek me. Because that's what I've always wanted anyways. I want you to come to me. Because I'm the only one who can fulfill all your expectations. Because I am the God of Israel. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I'm the God of the universe. You see, our Lord wants us to go to Him with every expectation that we have. In other words, everything that I desire, everything that I aspire to, everything I'd like to see in the world, everything I'd like to see happen, I'm gonna take it to the Lord. I'm not gonna manipulate it. I'm not gonna try to control it. I'm gonna take it to the Lord. So Lord, this is my expectation. This is my aspiration. This is what I want to see happen. Lord, if it be your will, make it happen.

Because I would acknowledge your sovereignty. Having acknowledged God's sovereignty, I can now accept my responsibility. What is that? Like the Lord said to Hagar, listen, I want you to go back to the place where you were mistreated, and I want you to submit yourself to, she can accept her responsibility. Having acknowledged that God sees all, God knows all, God is sovereign. And only then can she appropriate her ministry to her son, to her family, as God had desired. And the same is true for you and me.

That's the way it works. Because once you go to God with all your expectations, now you can begin to honor God's design for your family. And I really thought I would get to that point. That was my expectation. But it was dashed. By my own self. So I'll pick it up with you next week, let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight. Chance you'd give us to study your word. Pray that your word would stretch us, and encourage us, and motivate us to live for the glory and honor of your glorious name.

Help us to trust and believe in you only. Knowing that you are our God, we are your people. And we serve only you, in Jesus' name, amen.