I hope for all kinds of things. I hope my decorating attempts don’t look weird. I hope my raspberry bushes flourish this year. I hope my son scores a goal in his soccer game. I hope my children will follow Jesus. I hope my husband feels respected. I hope the church will stand with Christ. I hope life looks a little more normal in the months to come.
Failed Hope Leads to Unmet Expectations
And I could go on.
So we hope it doesn’t rain on our outdoor plans. We hope our kids will behave better. We hope our marriage will improve. We hope for a spouse. We hope for a raise. We hope the new diet we’re trying will work.
We all hope for things. Sometimes hope takes the form of wishful thinking. Other times we use hope like an anchor to get us through hard times—hope is a good thing. Those who have no hope feel lost. The problem is that as sinful beings, we tend to set our hope in the wrong place, and then disappointment follows. Instead of anchoring our hope in God, we attach our hope to situations, people, or things and assume they will satisfy us. We see this falsely-anchored hope as the only way, so we beg God for it. We try with all our might to think the perceived hope into existence. And when it doesn’t happen or when it happens yet fails to satisfy us, we get down and out.
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An unmet expectation is the inability of something or someone we put our hope in to satisfy us in the way we expected. That doesn’t necessarily mean that something or someone failed us, but that we placed too much stock in that hope.
God created us to hope, but marriage, family, money, beautiful sunny days, or even skinny bodies will not satisfy us because they’re not meant to satisfy us. If our hope is in anything earthbound, including God’s blessings, then disappointment is inevitable. But if our hope is in God, then our hope is in the One person able to fully satisfy us. Moses prayed in Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” God’s love is the only trustworthy source of contentment, and His love does not disappoint.
