Our God is a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine. All we could ask or imagine. That means the thing you asked God to do in your life just this morning - He can do it. That situation for which God gave you a spark of hope to hold on to - He can make it reality. That thought lodged so far back in your mind that you are afraid to let any closer for fear of disappointment if it doesn't come true - He can make it better than you're nervous to imagine. And that dream that is held in my heart, that few else know.. That, "Oh, if only it were true," kind of dream - He smiles about the ease at which He could blink and make it come forth.
Does it mean He will? Not always. But the clincher is this: If He has said it, He will do it. Period. End of conversation.
I don't need to worry about God coming through on my dream when I know it was His spoken word in my life that put that dream there in the first place. He may not do it on my timeline, but I cannot let go of what He told me to hold on to. I cannot make excuses for God: "Maybe He'll come through in another way, maybe I heard Him wrong, maybe He actually meant something else entirely..." No. He is big enough and strong enough to defend Himself. My job is to stand on the belief that God Himself is Truth. And it shall come to pass.
Contented expectancy is a place of tension and waiting. It is a place of being calm amidst the situation, while knowing God will come through. It is a place where God can do His best work if I will simply abandon myself in hope. Hope in him. Not hope in the situation, or hope in the dream. But hope in him.
Like Paul, we must learn the secret of being content in any and every situation (Philippians 4.12). The secret being Him who gives me strength to do all things - like waiting in the tension of a contented expectancy. Content where He has placed us. Content with what He has given us. Content with who He has called us to be.
But content never means comfortable or settling for less than best. It's not sitting in the fire of a situation and trying to acclimate to the flames burning our skin. It's sitting in that fire, crying out to God with an intensity, a humility, and a waiting heart. It's knowing in the midst of the burn that God is forever our Rescuer. Knowing that He is with us in the fire and will turn it all for good. It is knowing that He is God and that's enough.
Be content in every situation. And expect Him to move mountains in every one.
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Lessons for Today: Focus is all about the mission.
