Part Two -- Expectations rule

They are the happiest people in the world. That’s what Good Morning America and 60 Minutes say surveys over 30 years consistently show. Yet, the average person pays sky-high taxes -- 60% of their income. Jobs are plentiful, but there aren’t many opportunities for promotion and higher pay.

It rains on these happy people more than half the year. And although everyone lives within 30 minutes of the coast, summers aren’t made for swimming -- August highs average 69 degrees. No tropical beaches. No mountains or rolling hills either; the highest point is 560 feet above sea level, one-sixth of the highest point in either Connecticut or Massachusetts, which combined are the same size as this whole happy country.

In the middle of winter you go to work in the dark (the sun doesn’t rise until 9:30 am) and by the time the kids get home from school it’s dark again (3:30 in the afternoon).

So why are the people in Denmark so happy?

GMA and 60 Minutes say it’s their culture of low expectations of everyday life. Pleasure is not expected; it’s considered a gift, a sweet surprise.’ They don’t compare themselves to others. They’re not always wanting more; no bigger house, fancier car, better paying job. They’re happy with what they’ve got.

Don’t expectations influence how you experience things? You hear about a movie that’s supposed to be good. You expect maybe a 7 or 8. If the movie is 5 or 6, you’re disappointed.

But if you expect a nothing movie, like a 3 or 4, and it ends up being a 5 or 6 -- Hey! Not bad! Same movie, different expectation.

When we lived in Detroit, 60 degrees in January was warm, but if it was 60 on a July afternoon it would be cold. Same temperature, different expectation.

Before I considered buying a 4-Runner, I couldn’t pick one out on the road. After doing research and deciding to get one, they were suddenly all over the place. It was the same when my wife was talking about Coach purses and after that I noticed, yeah, everybody’s got one. Once I was sensitized to 4-Runners and Coach purses, I recognized their presence . They had always been there, but now I was paying attention.

Maybe it can be the same with God. When you don’t expect to see Him, often you don’t. But if you do expect to see Him, and are sensitive -- there He is! This is good news if you feel God is distant or hiding or uncaring. It’s also good news if you feel you’re living a disconnected life with your religious activity and church attendance over there, and the rest of your everyday life over here (of course it’s bad news if you’re living that kind of life and like it).

It might also be intimidating news. You can’t hide. He’s all over the place.

Here, there and everywhere?

One place you expect to see God is in the Bible. Another place is in Jesus, as you read the Bible and see Jesus’ personality, character, demeanor and how He thought and talked and what His priorities were.

And you expect to see God in church -- as you’re sensitized to Him in the music and preaching and in people who have come together to dwell on Him.

And maybe you expect to see Him when you look at creation and nature and you notice and are reminded -- wow, someone had to design and create all this.

But you can stop right there -- the Bible, Jesus, church, nature -- and if it’s not Sunday or you’re not reading the Bible and you’re not on vacation in the mountains or at the beach, then you may not really notice Him. And most of your life is probably not lived on Sunday or reading the Bible or in an attention-getting beautiful place.

But you read in the Bible:

The whole earth is filled with His glory -- Isaiah 6.3

And you do live all your life, every second, on that earth. The earth that’s filled with His glory.

And you read that the heavens declare the glory of God and that day and night they pour out speech and knowledge that’s heard all over, everywhere (Psalm 19.1-4).

And you read that what can be known about God -- His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature -- are clearly perceived in things that have been made, so everyone on earth has no excuse for not believing that God exists (Romans 1).

So you wonder -- what does that mean? That the whole earth is filled with His glory? That His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, are clearly perceived in things that have been made?

How and why does that matter to you and me? Is it theology for scholars and preachers and book writers? Is it for composers of worship songs and for us when we sing the songs in church? Anything else?

What if

Does the whole earth and the things that have been made refer only to nature -- the stuff we can see and touch?

If you said that your whole house was filled with the glory of God, would you be referring to the walls and the roof and the rooms and the floors? Could you also mean the space between the walls and floor and ceiling? Could you mean the way your family relates to each other? How your time was spent in your house? The atmosphere you try to create? Could you mean the way you try to have order in your home -- that someone’s in charge and that the kids don’t run the show?

Could those types of things also be what God refers to when He says the whole earth is filled with His glory and His invisible attributes have been put on display in the things He has made?

Could the things He has made go beyond the earth and sky and sea and animals and people?

Could the things He has made include how He has set up His world to work, not only the stuff we see and touch, but also the way the stuff relates to each other – the space between the walls and floor and ceiling?

Could it include rules and parameters and invisible laws for order and peace -- could those things also be part of His ‘whole earth?’

What if you saw God the other six days of the week, when you were not in church, not reading your Bible, when you were not on vacation noticing the scenery around you?

What would you see and how would it affect you if your expectations were adjusted to include not only nature and creation and the things you can see, but also the way the created things relate to each other, in institutions and systems of order?

The invisible creation

Institutions and systems like authority. The whole earth is filled with authority -- work, church, government, schools, families -- all over the world we see it. Every tribe, village, city, street, state and nation has some combination of parents, kids, bosses, employees, principals, teachers, students, presidents, chiefs, governors, mayors, police, citizens, pastors, generals, soldiers, coaches, players… You can’t escape being some part of authority if you are in any kind of group of people. And we see systems of authority in heaven too, even within God Himself, where the Father has authority over the Son and over the Spirit, and the Son is over the Spirit but not over the Father (but more on that later).

And how about family? The whole earth is filled with family. Dad and mom and the kids are seen in the animal and people kingdoms reproducing and nurturing and launching the next generation. And then we see God saying that He is the Father of His children and that His children should refer to Him as ‘papa’ (Abba). And we see Him saying he has a Son.

And marriage? The whole earth is filled with marriage -- just about every culture since the beginning has a husband, wife, mom and dad. Every marriage is challenged by what it means to love and respect, to be faithful and united as one. Everyone knows there is no other relationship like it. You see marriage ‘invented’ by God with Adam and Eve. And then God tells us marriage is a picture of His relationship with us, our relationship with Him, and even His relationship with Himself.

And how about people? Individually, you and me, created, He says, in His likeness to be conformed by Him into an even greater likeness of His Son. And every person is a stage where God’s justice and redeeming love is displayed, and a battleground where the fight between God and his enemy takes place. The whole earth is filled with people.

The God Show

It’s almost like a show -- The God Show. And there’s five channels: The nature channel. The authority channel. The family channel. The marriage channel. And the you channel.

How are God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, clearly perceived on each of those five channels, in areas that don’t change over time or according to culture; areas that are part of how things started at creation and that are still, well, on the air?

What would you see if you were paying attention and had the expectation that you would see Him more right now…and even every moment? And what effect would what you see have on you?