Are you scared to expect God to do something big amidst your circumstances?

Something that feels foolish in light of your situation?

Are you afraid to get your hopes up?

Perhaps you’re tempering your faith-filled expectations because of your fear of disappointment.

We need not hedge our expectations of God when those expectations are premised on His Word.

I’m not talking about expectations we pull from thin air.

I’m talking about expectations rooted in Scripture.

Now, if you’re anything like me, expectations are everything.

So much so that I hate the feeling of being disappointed maybe more than I hate the disappointing result itself.

And if I can predict how a situation will play out, I can restrain myself enough to soften the blow of unmet expectations.

Unfortunately, I do this with my faith.

But is a faith that’s restrained really faith?

God is big enough to handle my expectations.

And when we bring those expectations before Him, we can trust He’ll change them if they fail to align with what He has for us.

But we cannot let fear of disappointment keep us from believing our big God is going to do big things.

I play God when I try to reign in my faith.

At that point, I’m trying to manage the outcome of my faith–maybe even trying to “protect” God.

That I need to or could protect God from my expectations and disappointments is laughable, really.

Sure, God gets to decide how to respond to our faith.

He is God.

But we get to decide to have big faith.

And that’s the kind of faith we’re called to.

In fact, we know a hundred times over that faith matters.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.  [Hebrews 11:6.]

We must do our part—and only our part.

And our part is to believe we serve a big God who will do big things in our life and for His glory.

What does it say about our faith if it always plays safe?

Is faith that’s never vulnerable faith at all?

What sort of faith walks tidily through life?

A faith that’s never tested may eventually fail you.

Trust Him with your faith-filled expectation informed by His Word.

Trust Him with your fear of disappointment.

Trust Him to mold your hopes to what He has for you.

Trust Him with a faith that makes you feel uncomfortable.

As uncomfortable as the man whose right hand was shriveled.

Jesus asked this man to come stand in front of everyone at the synagogue, and to stretch out his shriveled hand.

Imagine the discomfort this man experienced, presenting his physical disfigurement like a science project.

Imagine if he had been too cautious to comply with Jesus’ request.

Imagine if he had wanted to protect himself from disappointment.

His hand was completely restored. [Luke 6:10.]

Trust Him with a faith that feels vulnerable.

As vulnerable as the paralytic on the mat.

He was so helpless, his friends had to lower him on a mat, through the roof of a house, right before Jesus—in front of a crowd.

Think on the vulnerability of lying there at Jesus’ feet as He spoke, unable to get up and leave if it didn’t go as planned.

He was there, in his desperate state, interrupting Jesus with an obvious plea for healing.

What if this man and his friends had been too worried about disappointment and embarrassment to come before Jesus for healing?

Immediately [the paralytic] stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. [Luke 5:25].

Trust Him with a faith that may teeter on undignified and messy.

As undignified as the woman who had bled for 12 years, whom no one could heal.

She had spent all her money on physicians with no recovery.

Imagine how undignified she felt, making her way through the crowds of people to just touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak.

Imagine the emotions.

Immediately her bleeding stopped. [Luke 8:44.]

Trust Him.

Take Him at His Word.

And expect.

Expect His Word to come to pass.

Remind Him of that Word.

He’s good for it.

Trust Him with what happens next.

Trust Him with your part: choosing to believe.

Trust Him with His part: to move mountains or to move you.

God has been too good to not risk having too great of faith.

I’d rather believe my God will—and be wrong—than believe He won’t—and be wrong.

If I’m going to err, it will be on the side of faith.