Expecting Too Much From God

By John Stallings


And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Matt.13:58


Larry Walters was a 33 year old Vietnam veteran employed as a truck driver in North Hollywood California.

Larry wasn’t the least bit happy with his daily life. He wanted more excitement. So on July 2nd 1982, Larry made history. He didn’t find a cure for cancer or win a Noble prize, he went on a flight. You say, “That’s no big deal. People have been going on flights for many years.” But wait till you hear what Larry did. He went to Sears, & plopped down $110.00 for an aluminum lawn chair. He then loaded his chair with a large bottle of soda, several water bottles to use for balance, a CB radio, a camera, a pellet gun, & 45 helium- filled weather balloons. Why the pellet gun? Larry figured that in order to bring his flying machine down he’d shoot out a few balloons & drift slowly to earth.


Now it was Larry’s plan to only drift upward a few hundred feet. But that wasn’t how things worked out. When the rope was cut Larry got raptured into the heavens. Within a matter of minutes he was moving at 16,000 feet. That’s three miles. But it gets worse. Turns out the lawn chair, “The Inspiration” as Larry called it didn’t have any good way to steer. All the chair could really do was drift. And drift it did, right into the airspace of the Long Beach municipal airport. Two fights went screaming by him, one from Delta the other from TWA. The pilots looked out the window & saw a man flying a lawn chair near them. How hard do you think it was for them to make that call to the tower? “Uh, air traffic control, looks like we have a bogey up here. MIG? No. F16? No. It looks more like some guy in a lawn chair.”

At three miles high, Larry began to get cold in the thin air so he shot a few of his balloons & started back downward. It seemed like things were finally starting to go his way until his tether ropes got tangled in some high voltage wires. Fortunately, the plastic tether ropes saved him until the crews could cut the power & Larry could get free.

But Larry wasn’t exactly free. The FAA met him on the ground with a $4000.00 fine for operating a civil aircraft for which there is no air-worthiness certificate.

Friends, this actually happened. Larry bought a lawn chair & expected too much from it.

Some people treat God like Larry treated his lawn chair; they expect too much from Him. But you ask, “Is it possible for me to expect too much from an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God?” Yes it is.

God can forgive our sins,
God can save us,
God can give us a home in heaven,
God can keep us,
God can keep us out of hell,
God can give us divine health,
God can give us divine healing,
God can send His Holy Spirit to reside within us,
There are a multitude of good things God can do for you & me.

Ephesians 3:20 says, -Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us……

BUT,

There are also some things God can’t & won’t do. I don’t claim to have all the answers but here are a few helpful observations & suggestions from God’s word & my experience.

1. WE EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM GOD WHEN WE EXPECT HIM TO AUTOMATICALLY RESTORE RUINED RELATIONSHIPS.

In Acts 9:26 the Bible says, And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

Paul hadn’t been saved long & the disciples didn’t trust him. They felt he might not be real & that he could be playing a trick to get on the inside of the Christian community. It didn’t matter how great a man Saul would someday be, as for the moment, he had to gain the trust of the people. He had been a devil-on-wheels, beating, killing & imprisoning Christians. Though his salvation experience on the road to Damascus was perhaps the greatest conversion  in history, he still had to work out the trust issue. He couldn’t expect God to instantly do that for him. Many times we forget that forgiveness & trust are two separate issues.

If a man tells his pregnant wife she looks like a truck driver, he shouldn’t expect God to wave his hand & rescue him. That’s expecting too much. Relationships are hard work.

I once married a couple & as we were all sitting around the table eating cake & drinking punch at the reception, the groom started bragging on the bridesmaid. This young new husband just went on & on about how beautiful she looked at the ceremony. As he blustered on, using words like radiant, translucent & glowing, I cleared my throat several times & was tempted to kick him under the table to get him to shut-up. I pondered how much this fellow had to learn if he didn’t know something so rudimentary as not to brag about another woman’s beauty, especially to his bride at her wedding. (The punch had no alcohol in it.)

To beat all, I don’t remember hearing him say anything complimentary to his lovely bride; although I’m sure he did that later. But on & on he babbled until finally I saw the dreaded look of consternation on the bride’s face that I knew would ultimately show up if he didn’t shut-up. All men recognize that look of displeasure on a women’s face. It’s a terrible thing to see, especially when you put it there. We saw it first in our mother’s eyes & later in the eyes of our sweethearts, then our wives. All I can say is, judging from the look he’d put on his wife’s face, I’m glad I didn’t have to go along on that honeymoon. Relationships are our job. God will give us wisdom but we must ask for it & use it. In working with our spouses, sometimes common sense will greatly help.

I’ve seen spouses who were unfaithful & then come to church & weep at the alter trying to get trust back in their marriage. I’ve told men to give their hearts to Christ but do it whether their wives come back to them or not. If they’ve treated their wives badly over a long period, it’s going to take some time to show her that things have changed. I’m not saying restored trust couldn’t happen instantaneously, I’m just saying don’t count on it, it’s expecting too much. Nor am I saying God couldn’t supernaturally put a marriage or friendship back together overnight, because nothing’s too hard for Him. What I am saying is that 99% of the time bruised relationships will take time to heal.

2. WE’RE EXPECTING TOO MUCH FROM GOD WHEN WE ACT PRESUMPTUOUSLY.—2 Peter 2:10---Psalm 19:13

One definition of presumption is, “Overstepping due boundaries & taking undue liberties.”

WE CAN MISTAKE PRESUMPTION FOR FAITH.

I heard about two ladies who went to the same church & both were confined to wheelchairs. One of the ladies had been seeking God for healing for many months & spent much time in prayer & meditating in God’s Word. A great revival came to the church she attended & one night she was prayed for & she stepped out of her wheelchair & walked. She was gloriously healed. The other wheelchair-bound lady wasn’t in the service that night but she heard what had happened to her cripple friend. This lady went the next night feeling that she served the same God & would be healed because God’s not a respecter of persons. Sadly, when she tried to get out of her chair she fell back into it & didn’t receive the miracle her friend experienced. When the pastor inquired he found that the second lady hadn’t prayed & soaked up the Word as the first lady had & her faith just wasn’t that strong. The first lady was moving in faith & the second in presumption.

I told that story once on a Christian T.V program & a (liberal) guest asked me, “Well, what if it had been the first lady who prayed & prepared her heart who had not gotten healed?” The answer to that question of course is that could have happened, but it would be the exception & not the rule. We can’t build good theology nor can we build our lives always dwelling on the exception. True, God can heal anyone anytime but it’s expecting too much to expect Him to come through for us when we’re not abiding in His word.

3. WE’RE EXPECTING TOO MUCH IN EXPECTING GOD TO AUTOMATICALLY RESCUE US FROM FINANCIAL DEBTS WE’VE ACCUMULATED.

In Philemon 1:18 Paul said, -If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account, I will repay it…….

Paul was saved but notice this saved man said that if he owed anything at all he’d pay it. If you’ve racked up debts, pay them. Pay what you owe if it takes the rest of your life. We can’t expect God to come to our rescue when we’ve gotten ourselves head over heels in debt by unwise spending habits. Bankruptcy may release a person from debt but there’s still a moral obligation to pay the bills we’ve incurred.

I don’t want to seem judgmental for I’m grateful for everyone who’s preaching the uncompromised gospel of Christ. However, I’ve seen people use extremely poor judgment in their giving. My advice is to send no money to T.V preachers you don’t know or haven’t checked out the way they do business as far as financial accountability. There are some good shepherds & some bad shepherds & it’s a good idea to check their message with the word of God & your own study. If you want to know what a good shepherd is study the book of John. If you have access to a computer, take the time to research ministries you give to & their operations. I warn you, the more you know about some of them & their opulent lifestyles, the more you’ll feel sick to your stomach. To be frank, if you listen carefully, many of them will tell you how richly they live & expect to keep living. They’ll tell you that you can live that way also but of course you don’t have a mailing list of two million. It’s expecting too much from God to ask Him to save us from bad  investments when He’s given us His word & his spirit to guide us.

Some T.V ministries own $20,000,000 private jets “because they are too busy to ride on commercial flights.” After hearing some of these jet-setters preach, I doubt that the world would be too badly hurt if they got their message to them a couple of hours later than the private jet will take them. Many of these preachers could ride the passenger planes with the rest of us. It’s very common for them to own several high-end luxury cars & live in mansions & own condo’s that would make the Hearst Castle look like a lean-to. It makes you wonder what part of moderation they don’t get. Answer, they get none of it- period. The sad part is the multitudes of elderly folk who are giving to these people when they themselves are wearing underwear with holes & living in shacks with leaky roofs.  I’ve seen churches pay the light bill for people who’d given everything they had to a media preacher. God’s not obligated to come through for us when we don’t use wisdom in matters of giving.

The best ministries are open with their finances & the rest are highly secretive & answer to no one but a board of directors with family & friends serving on them. A good rule is to give to your church or where God is strongly leading you to give. I won’t belabor this but in my view the “seed-faith” concept is great but it’s been grossly misused. Yes we need to sow seeds to get a harvest but that analogy isn’t one of a farmer going out & slinging seed around & calling himself a farmer. Much more goes into this principle than just writing a check, calling it a seed & expecting God to honor it just because we gave it. How can God bless us if we give money we’ve already pledged to the electric company & the bank? If we have big credit-card balances, what monies do we have to throw around while these loans are racking up high interest? When we carry long term balances, are we not saying we don’t have the money to pay them? I’m just giving a little food for thought. You & I may call it a “Faith gift” but we can’t be sure God won’t see it as presumption.

In the beginning of the church in the book of Acts, many brought everything they owned and & “laid it at the feet of the apostles.”

That’s wonderful. However, a little later an offering was raised for “the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” Romans 15:26. Part of that crowd was no doubt some who had given everything they had away. The same thing happens today, probably more often than you think.

4. WE’RE EXPECTING TOO MUCH IF WE EXPECT TO LIVE ON A “SPIRITUAL-SUGAR HIGH” ALL THE TIME.

It’s not going to happen. There is joy in serving Jesus but as Christians we’ll encounter sadness, suffering, heartache & pain. If we tell people differently we are lying to them. Many people are “bubblegum believers” & as soon as they suck all the sugar out of the gum they want to throw it away & find something else. Sad to say many pastors are in the “spiritual child-care business,” working with people who have to be fed pabulum from the pulpit & burped at the back door of the church as they go out. The thought of suffering for Christ is appalling to them.

In Hosea 6:4 the prophet describes these people by saying,…. Ephraim is as a morning cloud, & as the early dew it goeth away. In other words, these cotton candy Christians will be around as long as excitement is in the air but when the going gets rough they evaporate like the morning dew & are gone to another church or back in the world. They are from the “tribe of Gad,” & they gad-about all over the place. They go to church much as people go to pep rallies to get pumped up, but they’re not there for the long haul.

In John 10:10 Jesus said, --I have come that ye might have life & have it more abundantly. He also said in Mark 8:34… Howsoever will come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross & follow me.

Have we in America become the “soft-underbelly” of Christianity? Some ministries serve only “Spiritual Rainbow Stew,” never telling people that while God is good, other countries have experienced persecution & we aren’t immune from it. Have you noticed that some people are either “dancing in the spirit” or backslidden? I’m convinced that we ought to be preaching “the whole council of God.” Look at two scriptures;

Romans 5:3-4, --….but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience & patience experience; & experience hope.

2 Tim.3:12,--Yea & all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation.


5. WE EXPECT TOO MUCH WHEN WE EXPECT GOD TO AUTOMATICALLY RELEASE US FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS.

Being saved isn’t a “get out of jail free” card. If person robs a bank & later gets saved, he’s probably still going to jail. If he murders someone, & gets saved, he’s still going to face the consequences. God can always keep us out of hell, but He can’t & won’t always keep a person out of jail, & that’s as it should be.

When Jesus was on the cross dying & the “Good thief” cried out for His forgiveness, Jesus assured him he’d be with Him that day in paradise. But Jesus didn’t tell this thief he could  get down off the cross & go home. No, though forgiven, he still had to pay the physical price for what he’d done.

King David sinned & was forgiven & he was still called a man after God’s own heart. Also, when he sinned, the Psalms of David weren’t expunged from God’s word. But David still paid a price & the sword never departed from his house. Hundreds of years after David’s sin, when the New Testament opens, six verses don’t pass before we are reminded of David’s sin. Here’s precisely how it reads;

And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah……Matthew 1:6.

In the legal & judicial sense David was forgiven but in the Omniscient sense his sin wasn’t forgotten. If we expect to sin, especially if it’s willful sin, & not have that sin to be picked up on God’s radar, we’re asking too much. Thank God we have a place to go with our sins & the assurance that if we confess, He’s faithful & just to forgive. Lastly,

6. WE’RE EXPECTING TOO MUCH IF WE EXPECT GOD TO AUTOMATICALLY RE-BUILD A DAMAGED REPUTATION.

In Acts 9:10 God spoke to a man named Ananias & told him of Paul’s conversion. He was instructed to go to the street called straight to meet Paul, but in the 13th verse Ananias said,….Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem…… Paul was a great Christian but he can also serve as an illustration in about every possible way. This man Ananias heard of Paul’s reputation & was afraid of him.

Some people spend years creating a bad reputation & expect God to fix it overnight. If we are forgiven, in God’s eyes we’re justified. To Him we are now new creations, who as far as God is concerned, never sinned to begin with. But that does nothing for our reputation in the eyes of men. And it’s obvious why. professions come easy but it takes time for people to see a life has truly been turned around. No one really cares what we say about what our reputation should be; they only care what we do to re-build a good one. If we expect God to automatically re-build a damaged reputation we are expecting too much.

I’m not minimizing what God can do, as we all know the list of these good things is inexhaustible. However, along with all these marvelous benefits, there is our responsibility. God won’t do it for us but He’ll always help us as He sees us applying maximum effort to do the work necessary to re-build our lives, relationships & reputation.

IF WE EXPECT GOD TO DO IT ALL FOR US, WE’RE TREATING HIM LIKE LARRY WALTERS TREATED HIS ALUMINUM CHAIR....

WE’RE EXPECTING TOO MUCH.

Blessings,


John