Did you wake up today expecting God to move in your life? Did you wake up expecting to see his miraculous beauty all around you? Are you expecting to receive from the hand of the Almighty today?

One of my favorite scriptures in the Message translation of the bible says we should be “adventurously expectant”.

Are you expecting not only good things from him, but expecting him to work even the bad things into good? Are you able to wake up this morning anticipating what’s next with an adventurous expectation over a sense of doom and gloom and dread?

Our expectations have truly been tested this year, haven’t they? It seems 2020 has been a continual unfolding of things getting worse. Even in this reality, we can trust God with every detail. He’s not rendered powerless here, he’s in complete control. And because we are his beloved, even in the middle of a colossal mess and worldwide pandemic, we can safely be adventurously expectant.

Maybe you’ve been let down, and as a result you don’t want to get your hopes up again. That’s completely normal. However, that’s not what God is asking of us. He is asking us to trust him enough to wake up expecting goodness. Expect it so much you search for it. Expect it to the degree you dig for it. Expect it like you expected that sun to rise this morning. I expect God’s goodness in my life. I’m open to it, I’m fully available for it, and I’m on the hunt for it.

Jesus told us “seek and ye shall find”, so shouldn’t we be careful what we’re out there seeking, because we will surely come back with a load of it.

They say when everything goes wrong, that’s when adventure starts. With that in mind, to be adventurously expectant must mean we anticipate every slammed door to be leading us somewhere better. To be adventurously expectant must mean we turn disappointments into building hope of something mind blowingly awesome in the works.

You are in the middle of this wild ride called life. It’s one twist after another, filled with ups and downs that keep it interesting. We were never created to living a boring, mediocre, predictable life. You are the prized creation of a God who is anything but boring, mediocre or predictable. No two sunsets he paints are ever the same. Look at the rhinoceros of the wilderness, then look at the octopus of the ocean deep. God was playing. His creativity is on his display in his creation. And he made you, specifically designed for a life of excitement, a destiny in the unknown, a purpose beyond your current reach. You were created by this wild God for this wild ride called life. Yes, he’s wild, but he is strategic. Your life may feel wild, but know it is also strategic. God is working here. It all leads somewhere.

The problem is when we try to tame this wild life. We want predictable, but God created us for the unknown. We so easily settle for mediocre, but we’re called to greater purpose. Instead of fighting life, let’s play along. Let’s get in the flow of the ups and downs and find the joy on the journey. Let’s trust God knows exactly what he is doing and he’s leading us somewhere wildly good.

Let’s read a little more of this scripture. Romans 8: 15 says “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

Resurrection life. Oh, let that soak in for a moment. A life that has been redeemed. This is what you have received from God. A life that has been turned around. A life greater than you ever imagined. That’s a resurrection life. And that life is adventurously expectant and greets God with that joyful “what’s next Papa?”

So, what’s next Papa? Things haven’t quite gone as we planned here, but we are expecting good to come out of this. We are expecting your hand to be at work here in the details.

I will not dread what may come. I will not dwell on the negative. I will not be overwhelmed in the darkness. I am adventurously expectant of my good, good Father to be working all things together for my good simply because I love him. I will look up and see him at work. I will get excited about all the future could hold and eagerly step into what may be next, knowing my Papa has gone before me and made a way.

What’s next?

I don’t know. And I no longer have to know. My job isn’t to know, my job is to be adventurously expectant and be willing to step into the unknown, trusting the one who does.

Looking at one more translation of this scripture will give us a bit more inspiration for living well today. Romans 8:15 in the Passion Translation says “you did not receive the spirit of religious duty, leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the spirit of full acceptance, enfolding you into the family of God.”

What we receive today is truth of who we are. We are fully loved and accepted by God. We never again have to fear not being good enough. The resurrection power of Jesus lives within us and makes us MORE than enough. It is him who qualifies us for a life beyond our imagination. It’s not what we have done, it’s what he has done.

As recipients of this gift and heirs of this inheritance, we can truly be adventurously expectant and ask our Papa “what’s next”?