Expectations Frame Our Experience

Our expectations have a powerful influence on our experiences.

Expectations fill us with anticipation.

Maybe you expect a phenomenal experience, so you approach the situation with a pep in your step.

Maybe you expect conflict or trouble; then you will probably enter the situation with tension and a sense of bracing.

And maybe your experience ends up being the opposite of what you expected.

Expectations function the same way in our Bibleing experience.

In my 15 years of engaging the Bible devotionally and academically, I have come to realize how our Bibleing expectations influence our experience and potential for growth. Our expectations can propel us in one of three directions:

1. We can be excited to experience God’s special revelation to humanity
2. We can feel pessimistic indifference because we doubt Bibleing will produce any kind of difference
3. We can feel like ‘real biblical engagement’ is always just out of reach, resulting in a desperate panic that we are doing something wrong or that we don’t / can’t hear from God.

You Have an Expectation for Your Bibleing Experience… Can You Articulate it?

Have you ever articulated your expectations for biblical engagement? You have an expectation (whether you realize it or not), and it is shaping your experience with God in the text.

Once you can articulate it, you then want to evaluate whether it is realistic or not. Keep in mind that “realistic” here means measuring your expectation against God’s designed process for communing with Him through His word. My personal preference for how I want biblical engagement to feel is not the measuring stick of “realistic.”

Now, there is one more thing we must keep in mind when examining our expectations: outside influences on our expectations.

As is the case with every other part of the human experience, your biblical engagement expectations are affected by both the goodness of God’s design and the distorted marring of sin. The inner longing for God is part of God’s design for creation. We desire God because we are designed to be in communion with Him. Our expectations for how that communion is realized are affected by sin. Our expectations are (at best) incomplete. Even if part of our initial expectation is correct, there will be other parts that are supported by assumptions based on our limited understanding and experience.

So here are three questions to help you understand your own Bibleing expectations:

1. What do you expect to happen when you engage the Bible?
2. How do you expect that process to play out?
3. How did this expectation develop?
   • advice from someone?
   • your own natural instinct?
   • your ideal experience?

Answering these questions gives you a baseline for what you currently expect from your Bibleing experience.

Concluding Thoughts

So, let’s return to my opening comments.

Our expectations frame our experience. If you have a Bibleing expectation that doesn’t actually align with how God has designed for us to commune with Him through Scripture, then you’re likely going to have some of the following experiences:

• worry that “it isn’t working”
• Frustration because you aren’t having the experience you anticipated
• Concern that something is wrong with you / you don’t hear from God
• Intimidation by the Bible
• Discouragement & disappointment

These experiences have a powerful effect on whomever has them. The good news is that I think these are largely avoidable. God has revealed enough about Himself, and He has given humans enough ability to increase our understanding of who He is and who we are that we can piece together how this process plays out; in turn, we can then reform our expectations to something that more closely aligns with the truth.

A quick aside – I do not mean to communicate that “unrealistic” expectations completely prevent someone from experiencing God through His word. Instead, I am saying that there is so much more for us to experience if we get our foundation right. I remember what it felt like when engaging the Bible “clicked,” when I went from confusion to comprehension. That’s what I want for you too.

In Part 2, we will identify some of the most common Bibleing expectations I have come across, discussing what they do well and where they fall short.

I hope to see you there!

Until then,

Happy Bibleing!