From the gospels we read crowds laying cloaks and palm leaves on the ground as Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last week of his life on earth. The crowd is going before him and following him shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” There was a great deal of excitement because these people expected Jesus to deliver them from the Roman rule. They were excited abut a natural deliverer. They supposed that the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
Jesus is a deliverer, but he often told the people His Kingdom was not of this world. The Kingdom of God is spiritual. It is within. It is righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. No matter how many times Jesus told them about the Kingdom, they weren’t hearing and understanding. Their expectations hindered them from hearing what he was saying. They wanted a natural deliverer from Roman oppression. They wanted a natural Kingdom and he was preparing an entrance into a Spiritual one.
There are many things in our life that Jesus has communicated to us, but because of our preconceived expectations of what he should do, how he should do it, we have a difficult time hearing and seeing His reality. As Jesus approaches the city he weeps over Jerusalem because they don’t recognize the time of their visitation.
I believe it is our misplaced expectations that go unfulfilled in our lives because they arenot shaped by the will of God and our hearts fret against the Lord. These disappointments hold great opportunities for a sick heart.
The Holy Spirit is always speaking and leading into truth and the question is, ‘do I have ears that hear and a heart to receive? As long as we are looking for something else, we are hindered in our seeing or perceiving what God is doing. Reese Howell, wrote a book on intercession and made this statement, “Only the impartial can know the will of God”, quoting John 5:30. As long as we have an opinion about how God has to do something we are still trying to control our events. To commit something to the Father, is to roll the care over on him. We put him in charge, believing he will work, and we simply do not have an opinion about how.
Let’s just expect God to work and leave the how to Him.