God does not live up to our expectations. Jeremiah presumed that the people returning from exile would experience a triumph equivalent to the exodus from Egypt. It didn’t quite work out that way. Joseph no doubt expected a nice, normal life of a working man surrounded by his wife and children. It didn’t quite work out that way. The people of Israel thought that God’s saving of Israel would include a driving away of all their foes and a restoration of the nation. The coming of Jesus did not look like that. So with us — we have expectations of what it will be like having God on our side but we can be sure that the God of surprises will have something new for us.
