Expectations

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"  Mark 4:37-38 (NASB)

The last few times I've read this story, I've been struck by something - I might have even posted about it before.  Even so, this is what struck me yet again this morning, so this is what I will share.

In this story, the disciples didn't necessarily expect that Jesus would save them from the storm.  I'm not really sure what they wanted from Him - maybe they simply wanted Him to commiserate with them.  Maybe they were crying out in desperation, grasping at straws, but still not really believing they would be saved.

But He did save them.  He calmed those winds, and they were almost more terrified of His power than they had been of the storm!

When I cry out to the Lord at times, I wonder what I'm really asking for.  I wonder if I even know.  I wonder if I truly expect Him to work in an unfathomable way or if I just want Him with me so I have Someone to lean on through it all.

I want to learn to expect Him to act in His way. 

It's never going to be to just hold my hand through a crisis.  It may be that He calms the storm and shows His power such that many come to know Him. 

It may be that He does not calm the storm, but instead comforts me through it.  But, when He does, it's never going to be just for me.  It's going to be for His glory.  Matt Chandler and his family come to mind when I think of this.  They are being comforted by the Lord through the trial of his brain tumor and cancer diagnosis, but the reason his story is so powerful is not because of that comfort, but because God is being glorified through it in a very, very real way. 

Whatever the case, I want to be expectant.  I want to ask my Savior for His intervention and the expect that He is going to work in an awesome way that will glorify Himself.  I want to have the attitude of Paul in Phil 1:18-20, that no matter the outcome I will rejoice because He is being glorified. 

May He always be glorified in me!