Don't put God in your Box

“Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?””
‭‭Acts‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/act.1.6.niv

The Young Pastor who likes fried chicken!

"I finished my spaghetti, can I have fried chicken now?"  The young pastor was included in a small group dinner.  The hostess was known for her tasty fried chicken.  Yet she'd served only  the young pastor leftover spaghetti.  (He recognized it as leftover from the prior week's all church dinner.)

He was puzzled, not surprised as his wife had foreknowledge of his special menu.  The well meaning hostess had earlier explained that we would NEVER serve a pastor chicken.The pastor's wife had assured her this pastor loved fried chicken.  She shook her head in the negative and declared he would be served meatloaf.  The pastor's wife had to tell her that he was not fond of meat loaf and fried chicken would be fine. The hostess assured the pastor's wife she'd come up with something else.

After the young pastor finished his piece of fried chicken, because he persisted until someone passed him the platter he asked why he wasn't serve chicken  Her reply:  "Pastor Otto said never serve   a pastor chicken."

Pastor Otto was beloved by this church.  He'd served the church twice, once when he was young and then later when the church needed his loving touch the most.  So our hostess completely trusted the voice of Pastor Otto.

Another longtime church member enjoying fried chicken for dinner knew Pastor Otto and why he made such a declaration against chicken.  Pastor Otto grew up on a farm.  His job on the farm was to kill the chickens for dinner.  Thus, chicken was not his favorite dinner.

Somehow, our gracious, fried chicken expert hostess had translated his personal dislike into a strict proclamation for all members of the clergy.  Perhaps she thought pastors were like politicians and were served too much "rubber chicken!"

I thought about our hostess and her adamant belief in menu choices for the clergy. We might think less of her false assumptions, yet far too often, we do likewise.

I make assumptions about who God is and what He can or will do.  My information is filtered through my faulty and selective memory.

The sixth verse of Acts reminds me, even when I've spent time with Jesus, I miss the point.  The people closest to Jesus,, who had lived with Him through His ministry, death and now witnessed His resurrection, still expected Jesus to be the King of their expectation.

Why do I expect God to follow my life plan?  In hindsight His plan has always been better.  Why do I think God is anything like some earthly authority?  No earthly authority is without inconsistency yet God is constant.

I am challenged to ignore my life plan expectations and  await Jesus' best for my life in the coming "Roaring 20s"  (that's the next decade which begins Jan. 1, 2020-I saw that in the restaurant last night!)  I'm not going to limit God with my limited expectation. Let's have a Happy New Year  and eat fried chicken!