Oops, God did it again!
I commanded Joshua at that time, “You’ve seen with your own two eyes everything GOD, your God, has done to these two kings. GOD is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms over there across the river where you’re headed. Don’t be afraid of them. GOD, your God—he’s fighting for you.”
--- Deuteronomy 3:21-22
Remind yourself of Britney Spears’ song, right? Well, there is also a time when we can tell ourselves that God does something for a second time or a third or fourth etc. Yes He do but on a completely different matter.
Don’t get me wrong because to be honest, we cannot always figure out what God thinks about -- and that is His own mystery.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9
Unfortunately, most of us (me included) normally think we know all things about God. We get to a point where we say to ourselves with full conviction: “I know the signs, this happened to me the last time, I’m sure of what’s going to happen next.” And then, out of a sudden, things come falling before our eyes, we’re frustrated because our expectation failed us.
This might be the same phrases on Joshua’s mind when Moses commissioned him to lead the Israelites to claim the promised land. And we know the story, the Lord faithfully given the promised land to Israel. Clan after clan, victory rests on Joshua. But every battle was completely different to the other. When Moses said “God is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms...” he’s talking about the victory not the battle.
Same is true with our lives. God promises us that He’ll restore us every time, that He’ll save us and protect us, and that He’ll give us victory for each battle. But do not expect God to do the exact scene as He did on the first time. He reminds us of how powerfully He is on the first time to convince us that He can do better.
Expectation will always try to compete with reality. Yet one thing is true: our God is the same -- Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He’ll work miracles over and over again but in His own unique way. Let us not put God in our box of thoughts, remember that He is the Almighty Creator and He doesn’t like copying his previous work because He has limitless ideas in mind on how to operate everything.
