Place your expectations for others on the Lord rather than on man.
Your Moment at the Well
The Lord’s insight. We should learn to expect more from the Lord than we do from man.
Genesis 33:9-10: “But Essau said, I have enough my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. Jacob said, no please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, in as much as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God.”
Psalm 118:8: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”
Essau had not seen Jacob in over 20 years. It had been that long since Jacob had tricked Essau into giving him his first-born blessing of God. Although Essau had been very angry with Jacob, he did not hold a grudge against him now. Scripture says when he saw Jacob from far away that he ran to him and hugged him and kissed him and they cried. Genesis 33:4.
How can it be that Essau would meet Jacob with love rather than anger? We typically think Essau was foolish to sell his birthright. On the surface we don’t see any relative good in Essau. But wait! Look a little deeper and this is what you will find.
Essau had to learn that what Jacob took from him would not help him deal with what was before him today. He had to give up his anger. Essau came to understand that his expectations for what was right and good for him had to be on God more than on Jacob. That’s Psalm 118:8.
Essau didn’t need anything from Jacob because he had received more than anything from God. Essau set his sights on what God could give him more than what he wanted from Jacob. Essau’s expectations were set on God not on man.
Essau made it easy for Jacob to return home so that Jacob would not be separated from his home for the remainder of his life. Oftentimes, we make it impossible for people to get right with us because we place expectations on what they must do towards us. Our expectations should be on the Lord more than in man.
When our expectations are on the Lord we can live with others without holding grudges or being offended by the things they will do to us. So, ask yourself today, who are you keeping away from coming home? Who has offended you to the point that you have expectations they must meet before you will allow them back home?
You may never get the revenge you want from someone who has harmed you. Instead, you will always get the ability to live free of vengeance when you ask the Lord to help you live free of hurt and pain. I know this may be a hard message for some of us.
We are taught by man to hold people accountable and to forgive but you don’t have to forget. I’m not sure that is what the Lord expects – at least of me. Essau was not worried that Jacob would return home and steal from him again. But this is exactly how many of us live. We place our expectations on the man more than on the Lord.
Man will never be able to live up to our expectations because we cannot free ourselves from the thought that we may be hurt or harmed again. When you place your expectations on the Lord, you won’t need man to do what only the Lord can do in man.
Learn to place your expectations on the Lord and not on man. No matter what your expectations may be, ask the Lord to provide for you and He will do it. Then you will be blessed beyond what you could have been. Then you will have more of the things you didn’t even imagine you could have.
Lord, it is in You and You alone that I will place my trust and all my expectations. In this, help me to be like the changed Essau was towards Jacob. Help me to be better for I know it is in You and not in man that I should put all my trust.
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