Advent: Live Expectant!

The gift of the season of Advent is almost over and I've been reflecting.  Advent season is about expectancy. To me, being expectant is the state of being hopeful in reflecting, preparing, and seeking: reflecting on what has been, and preparing and looking for what is to come. Marriam-Webster defines it as:

a. to look forward to
b. to anticipate a coming occurrence

Those who are Christ-Followers spend these weeks before Christmas anticipating the coming of the Lord Jesus! This kind of expectancy is a beautiful thing.  The birth of Jesus broke centuries of silence from God to His people... through the birth of a baby.  God - the Creator of the Universe and the One who knows every hair on your head -  humbled Himself to bring salvation and redemption to the world and to have a relationship with you. That's something to be excited about and joyfully anticipate!!! 

There are many moments in life - big and small - where we experience the joy of expectancy and anticipation.  Just today, I am going to a lunch "meeting" to plan a precious friends baby shower.  We are all so excited for this precious family as it grows under the Lord's provision! And with the help of Pintrest, it's going to be fabulous!! 
{ Expectancy! }
My husband, Phillip, is so funny.  He goes through obsession stages of sports.  He was really into softball for a while, then it was paintball, then it was golf, then it was biking, and now he has recently gotten really into duck hunting. He has had his granddaddy's waders but they didn't quite fit right, so he ordered a brand new pair...all his own... He has been waiting and waiting for the waders [;0)] but of course, he was at work when they came in.  I text him to tell him that they had arrived and he was rather excited... I went on to tell him another story and he replied,"O cool... so how do my waders look?"
 I said," I don't know, I didn't look...." 
Phillip, disregarding my loving lack of enthusiasm exclaimed, " I can answer that: AWESOME!!" Needless to say, he was glad the expectancy stage was almost over for him... he just had to wait a little bit longer to get home the next morning and open them up to revel in their awesomeness... 
{ Expectancy! }
This summer I decided maybe I should start my masters in education but I, honestly, was not looking forward to it. Since I wasn't excited about starting school back, I was not excited about my book coming for my class. I wasn't fully anticipating its arrival. It wasn't really the first thing on my mind as I went to the mail box everyday...
...that's not completely true... it was on my mind when I remembered how much it cost. 
After a few days, it seemed like it had been an eternity since I first ordered it.  In the mean time I tried to complete the class assignments on my own (the hard way) without the book...as I continued to wait... Little did I know, it had been delivered, just not the way I was thinking it would.  We lived in our apartment at the time, and the normal protocol of getting deliveries was that they would put a notice on your door that you had a package, so I was looking for a notice... but I never got one. The book was just sitting in the office. It had come right on time but I didn't care to see it beyond where I thought I should've seen it. Not recognizing that it had come, I got very overwhelmed in trying on my own instead of trying to track it down.  Obviously, this snowballed into causing some drama with my professor.  When I finally recognized it had arrived, things got a lot easier in the class.  
{ Not-so-good-expectancy! }
There is a negative type of expectancy that I feel like I've been living in for my whole life off and on... Living for what's next instead of recognizing what God has presented for me right in front of my face. I know this isn't right, and I know I'm not alone... 1 Corinthians 7:17 says," And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. This has been a head-knowledge thing for me, and I'm learning to choose everyday to allow the Holy Spirit to help it become what my heart believes and acts on.

My book situation and the state of detrimental expectancy can be compared to the mindset and actions of the Pharisees in Jesus' time... yup...just called myself out. Their lives revolved around waiting on the coming Messiah but when He actually came, they didn't recognize and believe! They disregarded all they knew, didn't look deeper based on that knowledge, and remained in the expectancy state for life...Loosing hope and questioning their God after He had fulfilled all of His promises He made to them that they didn't deserve... Hmmmm... sounds familiar....

After Jesus had grown up and had started his ministry, He ran into this kind of negative and detrimental expectancy.
"When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake." Mark 8:11-13
The Pharisees were the Jewish religious leaders of the day.  They memorized the ENTIRE Old Testament and knew exactly what was prophesied in terms of the Messiah. ALL of those prophecies had come true through the life of Jesus and before He was even born.  Yet they still didn't believe and continued to question Him.  I know that I act like this... I test God, I question Him... I don't mean to and I know He doesn't condemn me for it... My Jesus is patient with me as He convicts and helps guide me...and He doesn't want to go to the other side of the lake away from me... He wants me to draw near to Him. But it breaks my heart to read that "He [Jesus] sighed deeply in His spirit".  
I know that I cause Him to sigh... but I also know that in the times that I am faithful in my belief and my faith in action, I feel the Holy Spirit breath His life into ME!! PRAISE HIM, that even in my Pharisee-moments, He still cares enough to love me and build my character through His life being breathed into my soul and spirit! 

The shepherds had it right.  They were doing the job God had them in at the time, in the expectancy of the Lord. They were truly "living, obeying, believing, and loving" right where they were...just think what would have been if the shepherds were somewhere else, trying to be and do what they weren't called to do... or doing what others were doing as they perhaps had compared themselves to others...!!! They never would have experienced the resolve of their expectancy and the opportunity to sit in the presence of their Hope!!! 
Once the angels appeared to them and told them that the Lord - the Messiah - had been born, they dropped everything to seek and worship! {Luke 2:8-20} Verse 16 says that after they heard the news from the angels, "They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph." I want to be so expectant that when I HEAR, I HURRY to my Savior and what He wants. Not question it over and over and let the joy and the treasures of the season He has me in pass me by...

"All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them."  

Lord, help me be so expectant that I hear, hurry, reflect, and praise You with ALL that I am and ALL You are in and through me -despite my Pharisee-moments!  Help me to be a shepherd... content and not comparing... being responsible and a good steward of and with what You've blessed me with...guided by Your Spirit... living, loving, believing, and obeying in You where I am, as You continue to help me fulfill Your purpose for my life as I become who You designed me to be!

God desires to give us hope and save us on a daily basis...He wants us to be expectant of Him and His miracles in our lives. But we have to recognize and believe based on the evidence in our lives and others, based on the miracles God has done in the past, based on the promises of His Word (what we know), and based on faith! If we don't, we won't experience the fullness of the joy and peace and love that Jesus was born for and died for, for us and for the glory of the Lord, in the first place!!!! 

     Don't miss the delivery of CHRISTMAS       in your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!