Unmet Expectations = Frustration City – Monday

Week 3 | Jesus Gets Frustration

Listen instead of reading

Take a Moment

Ask God what He wants to show you before reading today

Read The Daily

Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. (Genesis 40:23)

My wife is one of the most chill and relaxed people I know.  Not much gets to her…unless she has plans for something to happen and then it gets canceled.  That’s how most of us operate. When we experience frustration, it’s because the expectations we had about something have gone unmet. We’ve put all our hope into an experience, event, or maybe even a person, and it didn’t go as planned. Some things frustrate us and only affect us for a few hours. Other frustrations break our hearts deeply. 

Our relationship fails
We don’t get the job
The trip gets canceled
We lose a loved one
Our plans fall through

There was a man named Joseph in the Bible who was well acquainted with frustration. At the age of 17, his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery in Egypt. Shortly after his arrival, he was wrongly accused and thrown into prison. He helped someone while in prison and thought that would set him free, but they forgot all about him. Although no one is completely certain, chances are he stayed in prison anywhere from 10-12 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Talk about frustration. Things didn’t go as Joseph had hoped. 

We also experience frustration because we think this world is supposed to be perfect. We may not actually express it, but we hope that we’ll get married to our dream person, excel at every class, have the perfect family, or land a lucrative career. Lots of good things happen in our time here on earth, but know this: earth is not our home. And earth is certainly not perfect, so we need to adjust our expectations that it should be. The good news is that Jesus came to show us how to live with hope, joy and peace (even in the midst of all our frustrations).  What unmet expectations have been frustrating you lately?

Prayer for the Day

God what are you  showing me?  What am I going to do about it? 

God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?

Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.

Read The New Testament In A Year

4 x 6 Plan | Read: Matthew 12:1-14 & Romans 9:1-18