Expectations

“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Ps 103:14 AV)

Knowing the limits of those for whom you are charged is important.  There is no greater act of compassion than to not ask something of someone which they cannot do.  God does not expect us to be more than human.  It is impossible.  He remembers what our frailties are and is patient with His creation.  He does not expect us to be or do more than we can without His help.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit enables us to do more than we would normally be able, but the infinite God indwelling finite man is still limited by the creature.  We cannot fly.  We cannot instantaneously appear.  We cannot create.  There are limits.  He has chosen to use us in our limited frame for His glory and honor.  The comfort in knowing that God understands we can do or be only so much is comforting, to say the least.  It is also very comforting to know that God understands when we fail.

One of the joys the LORD bestowed upon me was the privilege to educate my boys at home.  For the first few years of their young lives, we met in my study for lessons.  We learned reading, spelling, arithmetic, a little science, and specially, Bible.  As a parent and teacher, one learns quickly when a student is struggling as opposed to faking it because he is lazy.  I cannot remember which son it was, but one was particularly frustrated at one of our classes.  I cannot remember which it was.  I seemed to remember reading or spelling being the issue.  Anyway, this particular son was also the one who could find other things to do when there was a chore.  Unloading groceries from the car seemed to be one sided.  Falling on the arms of Dad instead of the boys.  When it came this class, it was obvious to me that his reactions to the work were not laziness.  He was struggling.  Slamming down the pencil, banging the book, and kicking in his desk were part of routine.  Instead of punishing him, wisdom told me this frustration was real.  We backed off and took the time necessary for him to understand the difficulties of the English language.  Rather than pushing him beyond that of which he was capable, reinforcing the lesson and helping him see the principles from a different perspective was the key.

God is no different.  He has the patience of a loving and caring parent.  Sometimes, we put more expectation on ourselves than God does.  That was certainly the case with my son.  The bar he was trying to achieve was higher than he could and it was my job to lower that bar and take it at a pace in which he could eventually reach that bar.  The LORD does the same for us.  We put ourselves on a hook for things we cannot accomplish.  The feel guilt when we fail.  The LORD didn’t put us there.  We put ourselves there.  God knows what we can and cannot do and will not expect any more than we can accomplish by the power of the Holy Spirit.