Have you ever noticed how two people can have a very different perception about the same thing? It could be a TV program, a decision in sports, a musical concert, a talk in a church service, a journey to a specific place, or pretty much anything.

One person talks about how amazing the show was, how short the flight was, how they were gripped or learnt so much from the talk, while the other felt the programme lacked excitement or imagination, how the journey dragged, and how the talk had no impact on them. Listening to the comments we might wonder whether they were watching the same thing or were on the same journey at all.

It feels confusing.

As I was reading through the scriptures today I came across a similar moment in the book of Ezra, which is found close to the end of the Old Testament. Ezra is a priest, and his job is to both re-establish the physical temple in Jerusalem and to remind the people of the law of God that they are meant to carry in their hearts and heads.

In chapter 3 we come to a moment where the builders have finished the foundations of the temple, which is a great achievement, so the people stop to worship. The Levites (the priestly tribe) begin to lead people in the worship.

With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Ezra 3:11

Sounds good right? As we read on we see another point of view.

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3:12-13

It’s interesting right? Those who had never seen the old temple and most likely never seen any temple dedicated to God were blown away with what they saw. However those who remembered the splendour of the old temple that Solomon had built were heartbroken because this one didn’t compare and it brought back what they had remembered before exile.

So was the temple good or bad? Was this a joyful moment or a painful moment?

The answer is….both.

What we are dealing with here is…. expectation.

The old example, which I’m sure I’ve used on here before, is the restaurant illustration. Think about your favourite fast food chain restaurant. When we enter these establishments, we have an expectation about the food we will receive. We will accept that the food may come in a cardboard box, served on a plastic tray, accompanied by plastic cutlery. We accept that the seats won’t be the most comfy and that we will be expected to give up our table fairly soon. We know that the food quality will be questionable and we might even let it slide that it isn’t as warm as we had hoped. However, there will be some things that we won’t accept. If the food is expensive, slow to arrive, or isn’t the tried and trusted items that we are used to, we will be unhappy. We will accept so much but will refuse to accept these fails.

Now, let’s go 180 degrees and imagine your favourite fancy restaurant. The kind of place you take someone on a first date or a special celebration (some of you are thinking the two places are the same place but work with me here!!!) Imagine, in this scenario, that the food came quickly, in a cardboard box, on a plastic tray with plastic cutlery. Imagine the seats were plastic and we were given the eye by the staff after we had sat for longer than 30 minutes. Would we accept it? Absolutely not!

While the function of both these food venues is the same…food…how we eat and experience them is different. Our expectation with fast food is in the name; it has to be fast. When we ask someone how their trip to McDonald’s was and they answer ‘good’ we don’t suddenly imagine that they have just sampled the best meal of their life – we understand that it was quick, cheap, it tasted as they expected, and it wasn’t dirty in the place. In a fancy restaurant, we want an experience that is comfortable, not rushed, and we want quality. We expect the food to take longer because it is being prepared well. If it is cheap, we suspect that the quality is lower. When someone tells us they had a good experience of the new fancy restaurant in town, we don’t think they mean it was quick, cheap, and not too grotty!!!

Expectation makes a huge difference in this scenario and in many others.

I wonder what our expectation is when it comes to God, and how He calls us to live? What do we expect Him to be like? What do we expect His church to be like? What do we expect the Scriptures to speak to us about? What do we expect our health, happiness, and finances to be as a follower of Jesus?

Our answer to these will give us a good indication of where we are and perhaps how far away we might be from God’s expectations for us.

Well, was this a helpful blog post?

Depends on your expectation I guess!!!!