Aspettative: Embracing the Unexpected in God's Perfect Timing

You are probably familiar with the fact that the disciples expected that the messiah would come and overthrow the Romans, and so believing that Jesus was the Messiah, they asked him,

“Lord, is it at this time that you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6]

The disciples had watched Jesus perform powerful miracles for three years. The disciples had seen Jesus go head-to-head in debates with authorities and put them to shame with his wisdom.

And the disciples (after the bewildering death of their Messiah and thus the death of their expectations) had experienced the ultimate comeback and triumph of their Messiah by experiencing His triumph over death itself.

Is it really unrealistic for them to expect that their invincible King, the “Son of David,” would now establish an even greater kingdom than David’s? They had been taught about the glory days of the kingdom of Israel in David’s time, and I’m sure they often dreamed of its return. And that's exactly what they are doing in Acts 1:6. After Jesus’ entire life of ministry, they ask, “Lord, is it at this time that you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

We read this and think “come on guys, really, Jesus has been teaching you for how long that his ‘kingdom is not of this world’ and that his ‘kingdom is not coming in ways that can be observed’ and he told you about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and told you to put away your swords, and weren’t you there when he healed the centurion’s servant and greatly commended his faith, and you still haven’t put the pieces together?”

But let’s be honest.

Jesus’ answer to their question applies a whole lot more to us than we might realize.

“It is not for you to know the times and seasons the Father has fixed by His own authority”

Have you ever been wildly off on your understanding of

how God wanted to work in your life?

If you haven’t, I wonder if you have been pursuing His will? In a sense, we won’t become aware of our expectations and have them challenged without being close enough to Jesus to have him correct us. So let’s give the disciples some credit here. They were close enough to Jesus to have heard His correction. I'm not saying don't have expectations. We will have expectations. This is just a reality of life. Good expectations and bad ones. But are we moving with Him? As they say, “a parked car can’t be directed.”

There is something else in Jesus’ reply. Did you see it? He doesn’t give them an answer. He simply says, “That’s not for you to know?”

Are we ok when God’s reply to us is “that’s not for you to know?”

As we relinquish control, and as we allow Him to challenge and confront our expectations, and our perceived plans with their perceived outcomes, are we also ok with the possibility of not knowing the outcome or of not tasting the fruit of his plan in our lifetime?

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Over time, the disciples did put the pieces together and understood what the Kingdom was and wasn’t, but this didn’t remove all mystery from their experiences going forward. As we read further in Acts, we see a wild ride with plenty of twists and turns that required them to be very flexible with their expectations.

It is my prayer for you, and for myself, that we let our expectations be humbly shaped by the Holy Spirit’s leading.

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A note from the writer

This reflection came about because of this season of change we are in as a family, and because of a friend giving a great talk on “expectations” at our training in North Carolina

Aspettative – ‘expectations’ in Italian.