"Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on tomorrow, and today trickles away like water down a drain. You wake up the next morning and that today you wasted is gone forever. It’s now yesterday. Some of those moments may have had wonderful things in store for you , but now you’ll never know.”
― Jerry Spinelli
2 KINGS 4-5
10Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”11But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
JOHN 4:1-30
19“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”21“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”26Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
JOURNAL
Expectations...oh how they mess us up. Naaman was sure he knew how the story would play out. He thought Elisha would come out, call on the name of the Lord, wave his hand over the spot, and cure him of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:11). Instead, Elisha sent a messenger with simple instructions: "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed" (2 Kings 5:10).
Naaman couldn't handle it. He was furious. He had it all worked out in his head—how the miracle should look, how the prophet should act, how healing should unfold. And when it didn’t fit his expectations, he almost missed out on his miracle.
It wasn’t just Naaman. The Samaritan woman at the well had her own set of expectations. When Jesus told her about true worship, she pushed back: "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem" (John 4:20). She was stuck on what she thought worship was supposed to be—location-based, tradition-bound. But Jesus didn’t let her stay there. He broke through her expectations: "A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:21, 23).
The pattern repeats itself over and over. The Pharisees thought they knew how the Messiah would come—powerful, kingly, overthrowing Rome. Instead, they got Jesus—born in a stable, washing feet, eating with sinners. They missed Him because they couldn’t let go of their expectations.
The Trap of Wanting to Know
We all do it. We think we know how God is supposed to move, what life is supposed to look like, how situations should resolve. We script it out in our minds and get frustrated when the reality doesn’t match the story we’ve written.
It’s human nature to want to know. Adam and Eve wanted knowledge too—they thought having it would make them like God (Genesis 3:5). Even though they had everything they needed, they craved what wasn’t theirs—the certainty of knowing. And in reaching for it, they lost everything.
That desire to know... it’s still in us. We want to be prepared, to have control, to map out every detail so we feel safe. But that’s not how it works. God doesn’t give us the whole picture. He gives us Himself.
Letting Go of Control
What’s sad is that the knowledge we chase is often just a lie. It’s an illusion of control that we never actually have. No one knows how the story is going to play out. No one knows how God will move or what He’s going to do. All we really know is that He promises to be with us, to guide us, to work things out for good if we love Him (Romans 8:28).
But that doesn’t stop us from trying to figure it out, does it? We make plans, set expectations, and then feel betrayed when God doesn’t follow our script.
What if the real freedom is in letting go? What if God’s unexpected, unplanned ways are actually better than anything we could imagine? Maybe the challenge isn’t figuring out how to make our expectations come true. Maybe the challenge is trusting that God’s way, no matter how different it looks, is better.
So here’s the challenge: Stop scripting. Stop expecting God to do things your way. Let go of what you think you know and be open to the unexpected. Because when you do, you might just find that the miracle you’ve been waiting for has been right in front of you all along.
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