Lower your expectations of others so you don’t end up disappointed.
That was the gist of some online advice I read recently. Have you ever heard (or thought) something similar?
Because people often let us down (by failing to do what they say they’ll do and failing to be who they say they’ll be), we can be tempted to protect ourselves with low expectations of them.
After all, if we don’t get our hopes up, how can they possibly be dashed?
Sometimes, we even transfer this “self-protective” thinking to our relationship with God.
Because we don’t want to end up disappointed, we stop expecting Him to answer prayer. We stop expecting Him to keep His promises. We stop expecting Him to show up in our lives (even though we’d never admit it out loud).
But when we have low-expectations of God we aren’t protecting ourselves from disappointment. We are robbing ourselves of the joy, peace and hope God wants to give us.
Look at what Romans 15:13 says:
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (WEB)
God is worthy of our expectation:
I love that Paul calls God “the God of hope.” The word for “hope,” there, means “expectation.”[1]
In other words, God is worthy of our expectation.
When He says He’ll do something, we can confidently expect that He’ll do it.
When He tells us who He is, we can expect that He’ll show up that way in our lives.
We only need to look at His track-record to be assured of this.
You know, right before this verse in Romans 15, Paul quoted several Old Testament passages that promised gentiles would one day be saved. As Paul wrote this New Testament letter, that day of salvation had come. The church in Rome, to whom he wrote, included gentile believers.
Paul’s words highlight the fact that God had kept His promise. God had stayed true to His character in His dealings with people. And we can expect Him to do the same in our lives.
Expectation is the hallmark of faith:
But I’ve occasionally heard people say, “I keep my expectations low because I don’t want to presume upon God. I don’t know what His will is, so I just pray and hold things loosely.”
It’s true that we don’t always know how God will move in the specifics of a situation.
But it’s not presumptuous to take God at His Word.
It’s not presumptuous to expect God to be who He says He’ll be and do what He says He’ll do in Scripture.
This kind of expectation is the hallmark of faith.
Expecting is an essential part of “believing,” like Paul talks about in this verse.
People who truly believe in God’s character and promises don’t just settle for just reading them on the pages of Scripture. They confidently expect to see them at work in the details of their own lives.
And this convicts me. Because sometimes I read God’s promises with a wistful “if only” instead of a confident expectation that “I will see God’s goodness.”
Far too often, I’m the one afraid to get my hopes up.
“Believing” and “expecting” don’t always come easy. Maybe you can relate.
But the beautiful thing about this verse is that it points to God’s help and blessing.
Our expectation is enabled and leads to joy and peace:
Paul says “…may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis mine)
The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to abound in hope (expectation).
And as we believe and live in that enabled expectation, God fills us with a special kind of joy and peace—the kind that comes from knowing:
No matter what, God will be who He says He is in Scripture—good, kind, loving, forgiving, sovereign, compassionate, just.
And no matter what, He will also do what He says He will do in Scripture—He will repurpose all things for our good, He will never forsake us, He will guide us and provide for us, He will cast our sins into the deepest sea and make us more like Jesus.
We may not know how every detail of our lives will turn out, but we can live in joyful, peace-filled expectation that God will be faithful to us.
So if there’s an area of your life that lacks joy, peace or hope today, let me encourage you:
Comb through the promises of Scripture. And raise your expectation of God to match His Word.
If He says He’ll do it, expect Him to do it for you.
If He says He’ll be it, expect Him to be it in your life.
And whisper an expectant prayer that the God of hope will “fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my reading plan: “Accessible Joy” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!
©2024 Paige K. Burhans
Scriptures taken from the World English Bible. Public Domain.
[1] https://biblehub.com/greek/1680.htm
