Great Expectations!

Great Expectations is the title of a novel, by Charles Dickens, that deals with the themes of gratitude, social mobility, class distinction, and suffering. It came to mind this week, as two political situations came to a climax.
In the U.S.ofA., the great expectations of Senator Barack Obama were fulfilled as over half of the high turnout of voters supported his bid to be the 44th President of the United States. I have my personal concerns about some of his more liberal policies, but there is something about the man that does come across as genuine and decent.
Here, in Scotland, the great expectations of the Scottish National Party – that they would take the Westminster Parliamentary seat of Glenrothes from Labour – were dashed, as Labour held on, albeit with a greatly reduced majority.
Last night, at the LCC Prayer Meeting, we were reminded by Nat Rodgers, a visiting missionary who works in southern Norway, that God is in control; that He is never surprised; that He is never disappointed. This is why the Christian has great expectations! As a follower of Jesus, I am assured that He is my Guide, my Encourager, my Strength. He is the One Who knows the end from the beginning. He doesn’t experience our time dimension as past, present, and future. To Him, it is all “Now”. That’s why, when Moses, on having been instructed to go to lead the Children of Israel out of their enslavement in Egypt, asks what name he should give when the people asked him who had sent him, he is told “Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.” (Ex.3:14). In that dimension that we call ‘eternity’, there is neither past nor future. It is always present – not endless time, but timelessness.
If our trust is placed in the God Who is I AM, the Triune God Who has revealed himself fully in the Persona of the Son, and Who dwells within His people in the Persona of the Spirit, then we may have truly great expectations. It’s a bit of a cliché, but no less true for that: “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Him Who holds the future”! May that be your experience, today.