What Do We Expect?

Maggie, our 10 year old (or so) mix-breed pound puppy, reminded me the other night of something important about our worship and Bible study. It seems that the new joy in Maggie’s life is chasing cicadas. Cicadas are those strange insects that live as larvae in the ground for 17 years and then emerge into mature adults only to die within a month. That has always seemed anticlimactic somehow. We used to call them “locusts” when I was a kid, and that caused problems for me in Sunday school. If locusts emerge only every 17 years and John the Baptist ate locusts, then he must have gotten powerfully hungry between meals! Of course, John ate grasshopper-locusts and not cicada-locusts, so his meals were much more regular… if not more tasty.

Last week as we were walking Maggie one evening, a cicada in its death-throes skittered across the road. Maggie gave chase, and she completely wore herself out chasing the thing all over the street. I am not sure that the bug enjoyed the game that much, but Maggie had a grand old time. Every night for the last two weeks, Maggie has gone to that same spot on the street checking out every dark spot, leaf or stick, looking for another cicada to play with. She has only found one more, but every night she insists on finding the spot where she had such sun. Her expectation of meeting the cicada makes her enjoy her walks even more.

Have you ever been to a worship service where your spirits were lifted and you seemed to just experience the presence of God in a powerful way? Have you ever been in a Bible class on Wednesday night or Sunday morning where things just clicked and it seemed the mind of God was opened to you in an especially poignant way? No, that doesn’t happen often, but surely they do happen. This special awareness of God happens when our life situation, emotional focus, intellectual readiness and our spiritual need all converge at one time and place. That doesn’t happen every week; in fact, it can’t happen every week. The mundane and normal is what makes the special really special, right?

But maybe what is lacking in our worship and study experience is an expectation and excitement. Maggie knows where she found the cicada, and every time she goes there, she has an eager expectation and excitement. This is the place! Maybe that is what we lack in our worship—the eager excited expectation that God is the time and place where we come before God together. Sure, we can experience His presence in all places because He is everywhere. Sure, we don’t experience Him in the same way every week that we worship or study together. But is that because some weeks God isn’t here? Or is it because some weeks we really don’t come seeking or expecting Him? When we show up for worship or Bible study with an excited expectation, then it is much more likely that we will find God. And even if we don’t have one of those weeks where we see God powerfully in worship or study, our expectation will make the whole experience more meaningful. Just ask Maggie.