This is the first little pamphlet that begins my journey through the works of Oswald Chambers. In reading it, I was reminded of thoughts I’d had ten years ago. I pulled this post from the archives of my xanga account.
April 18, 2005
I recently shared these words with a good friend …
Abysmal expectancy … interesting word marriage, huh? I had a dream last night (maybe night before last) in which i began exploring the abyss (that which they visit in Garden State). I don’t remember much of the dream, but I do remember the abyss and I remember the expectancy of what would come. And so i was reminded of Garden State, but also of these thoughts i recently read from Mark Buchanan’s Your God is Too Safe …
“Our life,” the duke says in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, “finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” …
Our lives should be lived with expectancy. Not necessarily with expectation, because expectation tends to dictate terms. … Expectancy is the belief that God will do something. Expectation insists He do it in just this way. …
… imagine a life buoyed by expectancy, by the conviction that the Lord will show Himself. How, where, when – we don’t know that. We don’t dictate the terms. … by living with biblically girded expectancy, our lives stir to vibrant wakefulness. Elizabeth Barrett Browning writes, “Earth is crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.”
… We are talking about eyes that see glints of heaven flickering in earth’s shadows; ears that hear angelsong counterpointed with the barking of dogs and the wailing of sirens.
I think I would define ‘expectancy’ as ‘eager hope’. And, as I look to the Word, I see these words with one another …
“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” [Romans 8:24-25]
These are all comforting and encouraging words to me as we face the unknown abyss … all we’ve not yet met. May I live each day in abysmal expectancy … confident that He gives us just what we need, how we need it, when we need it … speaking to us through a janitor, singing to us in the rain, dreaming us into the joy and comfort of the abyss.
The certainty of God makes the uncertainty of life not only bearable, but gloriously beautiful!
| Reflect On | John 3:8 1 John 3:8 |
|---|---|
| Praise God | that He is constant. |
| Offer Thanks | for the unexpected adventures in life. |
| Confess | ways in which you may hold to certainty of belief rather than to certain in God. |
| Ask God | to work something new in your heart and in your mind. to be your anchor in the midst of this tempestuous world. |
| Comment: | How have you experienced the certainty of God amidst life’s uncertainties? |
Other posts in this #MissionText series:
#MissionText • The Making of a Christian • Now Is It Possible— • The Discipline of Divine Guidance • The Fighting Chance • The Message of Invincible Consolation • The Discipline of Loneliness • #MissionText: Considering Copyright • Thy Great Redemption • Talks on the Soul of a Christian • The Highest Good • Our Brilliant Heritage