An expectant heart.

There are many times I wait for God to give me an answer to something that is happening in my life or something that He has asked me to do for someone else.  Many times I will go to God and ask Him to almost give me an explanation of why He has requested, asked or called me to do something. 

I am the need to know kind of person.  It doesn’t mean I won’t do what I am being led to do, but it makes me feel a lot better when I know the back story to why I am doing what I am doing.  A lot of times, like right now in this season of my life, God is not telling me why He is doing some of the things He is doing.

In reading Matthew 2:12 tonight the word expectantly came to my mind and then I thought of myself, and if when I ask God a question or for something do I do it expectantly, and I couldn’t answer the question.  My not being able to answer the question would lead me to believe that I am not waiting expectantly for God to respond. 

Verse 2:12 states And receiving an answer to their asking, they were divinely instructed and warned in a dream not to go back to Herod; so they departed to their own country by a different way. 

In my head the wise men, which this verse is referring to, went to God with a question and they expected to receive an answer.  They were hopefully, they were aware and not casual with their conversations with God, they were speaking to Him on purpose.   They expected an answer!

At this point in the chapter, which I am newly in, as you can see, Jesus has just been born and Herod had been informed by the wise men that the King of the Jews has just been born, and they were asking Herod where He was.  Herod obviously didn’t know, and with all the accolades that had been put on this child, he was immediately filled with jealousy of Jesus, at least that’s what I believe. 

Herod had done some back work on Jesus, and what everyone was speaking about, and found that this was in fact a prophecy that was coming true, so Herod sent for the wise men.  Herod had asked the wise men to give him information on the star that would lead them to baby Jesus.  He wanted to know how long the star was visible and when the star had appeared.  He wanted as much information as he could get on Jesus. 

His intent, as he stated to the wise men, was to visit Jesus, and shower Him with gifts, and worship Him as well, but the truth is, that he intended to harm Jesus.  He wanted to kill Jesus, so that there was not any competition for him as King.

This story is one that we are all familiar with, but it’s so easy to sometimes glance over small details when we are so familiar with something.  That’s what I have done, until tonight, when I saw verse 2:12. 

I love that the verse tells us that God will divinely instruct us and warn us on how to go.  To me, this means, that you don’t necessarily have to have asked God a question that day but maybe at some point you did, and He can answer you at any time.  Or maybe you don’t have to ask Him a question at all.  Maybe He will bring you a warning in a time when you weren’t seeing clearly and He will send you the help you need, and you didn’t even know you need it.

That’s why we are divinely instructed.  

We are given information when we don’t even realize we needed the information.  God is able to see the end from the beginning, so He can see the entire puzzle already put together, while we are still trying to find the edge pieces, to create the boarder.

God knew the intention of the wise men’s hearts.  He knew they were going to praise and worship Jesus, and to praise and worship Him, so He knew He needed to keep them protected.  These were men being put in a situation where they were being manipulated and their beliefs were being used against them, for harm. 

Remember God has told us that whatever is meant for our harm, He will make it work for our good.  We have a perfect example of this right here.  Herod was lying to the wise men and saying that his intentions were to celebrate, as were theirs, and God knew his heart, and protected not only the wise men, but also Jesus, Mary and Joseph. 

The wise men had an expectant heart for God, not just in the moment of verse 2:12 but always.  They expected God to fulfill the prophecy, they expected God to give them a guide, (star) to find Jesus, they expected that they would arrive there safely, they lived in a state of expectancy with God, so when He diverted their plans, and gave them wisdom, this wasn’t something opposing to them, because they lived expecting to hear from God.

What if we did that today?  What if you woke up tomorrow and announced to God, I expect to hear from you today.  What if you continued to make that declaration all through the day, and then gave Him the opportunity to do as you declared.  Do you think you would hear from God?

I do.

I think if we start to have a heart of expectancy, like we have seen here in Matthew 2:12, we would start to see and experience, a lot more than God speaking to us.   I think if we start to state every day ok God, here we go, and I expect to hear from you today.  I expect to see you show up in my life today.  I expect something good to happen today.  I expect to be a blessing to someone else today.  I expect to draw nearer to you today.  I expect to be blessed today, and the list goes on and on, but I truly believe, with all of my heart, if we started to make this our mantra, anthem, our battle cry ,our one true desire from God, we would see Him show up!

An unexpected heart doesn’t change or stop God, but it does change or stop us.  It stops us from receiving, it keeps the lines of communication blocked, and it changes our view of what we think God can do or handle and what we think we need to take care of.   

Let’s take God out of the box, open the windows, let our hair down and say… I expect to hear from you today God!!!

And then allow Him to speak…