Even though it is winter in the northern hemisphere, there is much going on in preparation for spring in many parts of the country. I remember so well how my father would spend the winter months pouring over catalogs that seemed to arrive in our mailboxes every day. Some would advertise the very best seeds. Others were filled with beautiful photographs of flowering trees and bushes or plants covered with berries.

 

Winter on the farm was a time for preparing for the planting of next summer’s garden and our late summer and fall harvests. I loved the pictures, but it was my dad who had the discerning eyes to read about what accompanied the pictures. Beyond the beauty, he knew he needed to learn which things grew best in our Midwestern soil and climate as well as which ones were disease resistant. His wisdom and knowledge made him aware that what was most important was what none of us would be able to see for many weeks after the new things had been planted. What happened underground would be where so much of the growth would first take place and risk of disease or pests would start as well.

 

Those same principles apply to my spiritual life as well. How I prepare (or let God prepare) the soil of my heart, mind, and spirit is crucial to whether whatever is planted will produce a good harvest. What and how I plant and nourish the seed will also be key, but I may not really see what is growing for some time. That can be true of good things as well as things that are not good.

 

If I am going to be prepared to live for the Lord in the midst of a hostile, threatening world, I need to recognize more quickly what hinders me from doing so effectively. Unfortunately, that is not as easy as it sounds because many of these things are growing under the surface of my daily life. I may not even see the hints of them that others may catch sight of. Worse yet, if they mention what they see, I can be quick to deny it since I have not seen it myself.

 

One of those things is pride.

 

In Nothing to Fear: Principles and Prayers by Barry C. Black, he points out something that is key to our potential failure to thrive in a hostile, threatening world:

 

“We despise the sin of pride in others, but we often can’t see it in ourselves. Pride is responsible for much of the world’s chaos because it seduces us into thinking too highly of ourselves. Pride creates contention, hardens the heart against compassion, and encourages disdain of others. Failure to avoid pride is a key reason why many fail to thrive in a threatening world.”

 

Pride can be one of those things that start under the surface, growing quietly in the dark so that we don’t see it. Since knowledge plays a big role in its development, we get duped again because we can be tempted to believe that we know about a topic, subject, issues, person, etc. It is likely true that we know about such things and maybe even a great deal, but we can believe we know more than we actually might. As a result we can be tempted to believe we should enlighten others with our knowledge since we are “in the know” and have assured ourselves we are right. That may be an honest desire to share truth, but it is often riddled through with evidences of pride. Since none of us is immune to pride, it can happen easily no matter who we are or our station in life.

 

One of the challenges with knowledge is we may not recognize we are only seeing a part rather than the whole. Pride grows a little more and becomes more evident when someone confronts us with additional information and we dismiss it because of course we know. That brings to mind Paul’s warning in I Corinthians 13:12 KJV:

 

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

 

As I think about this topic it is easy to smile and think about my excitement to share with my parents all the things I was learning when I was in college. They were new to me and I was sure my parents didn’t know anything about them. Truth be told, it’s a great example of my own pride as I spouted off the knowledge I was acquiring. It also spoke loudly of my immaturity on so many levels. It would be a few years down the road that I began to recognize how much they knew and how much I still had to learn. I was also guilty of comparing myself to them, looking at what I thought I knew to what I thought and believed they knew.

 

Any time we compare ourselves to anyone we show how foolish we are. The standard for my life (your life) comes from the Lord, not another person.

 

To deal with this thing (pride) that starts growing beneath the surface of my daily life, I need to pursue humility from the source of it—Jesus!

 

“Humility leads us away from pride. Humility is not groveling, but it involves an honest assessment of our God-given talents. It manifests itself in a teachable spirit. Humility helps us find the road to the life that matters.” Barry C. Black

 

 

 

For some reason, it can be so easy to view the word unexpected negatively. All the commercials and ads that remind us to plan for or prepare for the unexpected reinforce it. Don’t misunderstand. It is important to do. That is why we want insurance for and on all sorts of things and why we try to put some money away “for a rainy day”. If we have lived very long at all, we know how important that is. We never know what is going to happen so preparing for as much as we can is a good thing.

 

One of those times happened to us this summer when our HVAC system had to be replaced. Ouch! I kept thinking it wasn’t that long ago when we did that, but somehow those sorts of things don’t seem to get recorded accurately in time.

 

I know several people who were slammed with big-ticket items that needed to be replaced in recent months. In one case they had multiple things happen within a short period of time. The stuff we have never lasts as long as we hope and in our modern era we have come to rely on more things than ever before to help us accomplish things handled more simply even 50 years ago.

 

Beyond expected ‘things’ breaking down, there are those other events that come into play. A job loss is often unexpected and so are so many medical issues that happen in our lives. And of course there are accidents of all kinds that ruin our cars, our homes, our property, and our bodies. It is little wonder that the word unexpected gets a bad rap. The word is usually attached to something negative.

 

As a result of the history we have with the word, it can tempt us to anxiety and fear. Somehow we all feel better when we have more control. I am not sure why we keep forgetting that we really don’t actually have control over very much except for our choices and our responses to things.

 

All this bad news about the word unexpected can cause us to forget that some times the unexpected is something good or even better than that. Maybe we miss it because we tend to use a different word then. We choose the word surprise. It’s odd because a surprise may not always be a great thing, but our connotation of that word is much different than unexpected tends to be.

 

I don’t think the unexpected takes the Lord by surprise. Because of that I wonder if He also hopes we will trust Him enough to know the unexpected will come, but so will He. He will be there with us to shepherd us through it all, provide, show a way of escape, or bring healing and comfort. If we are tuned in to listening to Him in the midst of the unexpected and respond in obedience and lean into Him, we will be reminded of how faithful He is. He has never promised us that life would be easy or without trials and suffering. The Lord admonished the disciples as he sent them out that their life would not be easy on any level and it is no less true for us today.

 

But let’s get back to what I wanted to remind you of about that word unexpected. Do you remember when Jesus was at the wedding in Cana and the host ran out of wine? When Jesus changed the water into wine (the very best wine at that), was that not unexpected by the guests as well as the host of the wedding? When Jesus invited Peter to meet Him on the water where He was walking was that not an unexpected invitation and faith builder when Peter actually did?

 

Sometimes the unexpected happens in our life in less dramatic ways that are no less impactful. One of my granddaughters who is in her last semester of nursing school had a very tough week with several major tests. One of them really left her frustrated and unconvinced she had passed, while another seemed like it was probably going to result in a good grade. The unexpected happened when she learned she did do well on the test she felt good about, but the one she felt not as good about actually resulted in an even higher grade.

 

Barry C. Black reminded me of that in his new book, Nothing to Fear, when he said,

 

“God delights in doing the unexpected in our lives, saving the best for last. He wants us to experience life to the fullest, and he has given us principles and commandments to keep us from the pitfalls of sin. He surrounds us with the shield of his favor, and he delights in surprising us in the eleventh hour.”

 

One other unexpected comes to mind that we must not forget is that the return of Jesus will happen suddenly and unexpectedly as Paul describes it in 1 Thessalonians 5 “like a thief in the night”. We are to be prepared as the story of the wise and foolish virgins tell us, but as his children that unexpected day (or night) will be the very best ever if we remain committed and watchful versus careless in our words, actions, or spiritual growth.

 

Expect the unexpected, but never forget it doesn’t surprise the Lord.