WHAT'S IN STORE
But, on the contrary, as scripture says; What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. (1 Corinthians 2:9 TAB)
So, what do you expect? There are many things that we suspect or at least elect to believe about what is to come. Usually in Christian type circles this question immediately bounces us into discussions of the distant future rather than the instant future! This scripture however, is dealing with an eternity that began when we chose to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, not an eternity that begins when we get to heaven.
In the natural world, we expect corporations to project earnings and plan for good returns. We expect doctors to help us and not hurt us. We expect our law enforcement to protect us. We expect the bank to take good care of our money and pay us interest. We expect investment advisors to increase what we give them to invest. If we go to a restaurant we expect good food. We could go on and on listing the things that we expect. The bottom line is that we expect good things from these and all other aspects of our lives. At least we should!
We take the time and make the effort to make good choices in all of these things, why don’t we make the same effort and expect the same from God. After all, He knows more about all of these things than we do and He is able to overcome the worst failures in each and every area of our lives.
According to this verse of scripture and thousands more, we should know exactly what to expect. We should expect God to keep His promises. We should plan for good. In every circumstance, we should instantly begin to thank Him for the benefits He has bestowed upon us.
God never intended that we be controlled by circumstance. He said we should use them as opportunities to behold His glory, but not that it was His chosen way to educate us. We only learn the hard way by choice! What we really need to do is simply learn to trust God. Things may surprise us, but God already has a plan! Nothing catches Him off guard.
If our first response to things is, “Oh what now,” we open the door to our own imaginations being fueled by that old serpent the devil. On the other hand, if we instantly begin to thank the Lord for His way of handling things, even when we do not know exactly what that may be at the moment, we open the door for Him to reveal what He has in store. The things we have not imagined, He has already prepared. Let’s cleanse our minds of the idea of preparing for the worst, and begin to expect beyond the best.