An epidemic of global proportions exists today. It transcends boundaries, cultures, and languages. It’s an epidemic of pessimism and dead expectations. Far too many people are suffering from an expired “expecter.” As a result, many have more faith in failure than they have hope in victorious living.
A God of miracles seems foreign to many sitting on church pews today. Attending some churches in today’s negative atmosphere is to be subjected to an hour of listless worship spawned by lifeless choral dirges and unconvincing sermons. Where is the expectation that David seemed to have when he said, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’” (Psalm 122:1)?
Where is the anticipation that seems to come through in his words of Psalm 100:4 when he sang: “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name”?
I wonder … could a good trip to church evoke such anticipation now? Our level of expectation has everything to do with what we receive or do not receive from God.
When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray, they came upon a crippled man whom they possibly had seen before. He had been in this condition from birth, and his daily routine involved having his family or friends carry him to a place call the Beautiful Gate, just outside the Temple proper. There, this pitiful man would beg for money and food. I wonder how many had passed by him on a daily basis and could never help him?
No one expected that a difference could ever be made in his condition. Similarly, the cripple never expected that anyone could help him obtain a better life.
