Day five: Expect God to show up.

We’ve all probably heard the joke about the faithful believer sitting on the rooftop of his house, awaiting rescue from a flood. Several folks in a boat offer him a ride to safety but he declines. A helicopter also lowers a rope ladder, but he stays put, waiting on God’s rescue.
 
In the end God does not show up. In anger, the man cries out, “why God?!” Then God says, I sent you a boat, I sent you a helicopter and you refused their help.
 
Expectations can be a relationship killer. We imagine how a certain conversation or situation should play out. We run the scenario in our heads until it seems that’s the only way it can happen. And then it doesn’t.   
 
We often say we’re waiting on God to show up, but we have a specific way we expect it to happen. During these 21 days, expect God to show up, but don’t limit what that may look like. God encounters are a dance, a conversation, a give and take. It requires our full attention, or we may miss it.
 
In the verses below, God shows up for Moses and for the disappointed disciples on the road to Emmaus. But His appearance was not what they could have expected. In fact, at first, they didn’t even know it was God.
 
As you read them, pay attention to how God waited for Moses to draw near before He spoke. Watch how Jesus hesitates and plays hard to get with the disciples, acting as though He was going to move on without them. It was not until they invited Him to break bread with them that He revealed his identity.
 
Keep your eyes peeled for your God encounter and don’t have a preconceived notion of what that may look like. God loves to surprise us!

Scripture Reference:  Exodus 3:1-4

- One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,[b] the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” 4When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!”Moses replied.

Scripture Reference: Luke 24:27-32

- 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, 29 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. 30 As they sat down to eat,[b] he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! 32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” 
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Prayer Prompt: Ask God to help you recognize Him when He shows up.