Expecting the God of the unexpected

Transformed by the Word | Wycliffe Today Autumn 2022 |
By Lyn Wake

But, O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. Psalm 42:11a (TLB)

Can you recall a time when unexpected circumstances suddenly turned your world upside down? Perhaps at the time it was considered a blessing: a financial windfall, a new relationship, or the fruition of a long-held dream. Or maybe it felt like a curse: a serious health diagnosis or the death of something long hoped for. 

We have all been dealing with unexpected twists and turns over the past couple of years. I wonder if we are becoming more attuned to ‘expecting the unexpected’ as the pandemic unfolds? While it may be scary, this unexpected season offers us the opportunity to learn more about God’s character and our own place in his overarching story.

We are not alone in holding incomplete expectations about how God acts in his world. God’s people were expecting the Messiah but I’m sure nobody in their wildest dreams expected a poor, unknown teenage girl to birth the King of kings – with no alternative but an animal trough for his bed! 

Did anyone in Jesus’ time expect his ministry to oppose the religious order of the day? Were they anticipating a suffering Saviour? No way! Yet Jesus willingly submitted himself to brutal crucifixion to take away the sins of the world. He became the living, resurrected Lord who intercedes for us at the right hand of God through all our unexpected detours. Gloriously and gratefully unexpected.  

Photo by Warren Wong