Normally around this time of year, I emerge from my self-imposed summer writing hiatus to compose a back-to-school post. Of course, this year is anything but normal, and for many of us, back-to-school looks incredibly different from what we anticipated. Instead of spending the last few weeks buying new clothes and completing our supply lists, we have been eagerly awaiting news about what school would look like and whether our kids would be once again learning from home. Instead of approaching the new year with excitement, we have been filled with uncertainty, and perhaps even apprehension. Expectations are obscure, and we may wonder what God is doing.
Of course, just because we are unclear about how God is working, it doesn’t negate the fact that He is at work. While we didn’t know that this is what 2020 would look like, it didn’t catch God by surprise. Though the way is unclear to us, He is still accomplishing His good purposes in the lives of His children, and in the world. And He will continue to do so – regardless of our level of confidence that we can predict what the coming days will entail.
William Carey, a renowned missionary to India, famously said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” Often when we consider this quotation, we switch the two sentences around. We think we are to attempt great things for God, and then we can expect Him to do great things. But that is not the case. God is doing great things – because He is God and this is what He does. And because we can be confidently assured that God is doing great things for and in His children, we can attempt great things for Him. Even if that means we don’t know what the school days will hold, or how we will balance our new responsibilities that have emerged as a result of the pandemic. We can expect to see His beauty, and His majesty, and His goodness in this world, even when we may be tempted to be overwhelmed with the evil and contention around us. And we can anticipate that we will look back at these days and see that He used them to produce good in the lives of His kids, and that as a result of our dependency on Him, our love for and faith in Him were strengthened and deepened.
So in the midst of the uncertainty that we face, let us embrace expectancy, eagerly anticipating that, as God’s kids, we will “look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). And let us attempt great things for Him knowing that He will use the lives of His faithful kids to put His glory on display.
