The Expectancy – Hope for the New Thing that God is doing !

The Expectancy
Pastor Calvin Cook
April 9, 2025

Key Verse: “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” — Isaiah 43:19

We hope for and have hope for many things. But seriously do we believe that some of the things we are hoping for will ever happen.

Some time ago I had a conversation with a few people close to me where we talked about praying with expectancy. Yesterday that same conversation happened with a completely different group of people. The result for me has been to consider if I am living with an expectancy of what God is doing and will do. Or are my thoughts and ideas just about what I want or desire to happen. Knowing the difference is difficult but essential to know if you are being led by self or present conditions and situations or by the Holy Spirit.

There’s something powerful about expectancy. It’s not just wishful thinking—it’s the confident anticipation that something good is coming because God has promised it. Isaiah’s words were originally spoken to a people weary from being in captivity, longing for deliverance. And God answered—not only then, but again and forever through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

In Luke 5:1, we find Jesus standing by the water’s edge, where the crowd presses in to hear the Word of God. The setting is full of expectancy. Something is about to happen. The fishermen nearby have no idea that their lives are about to change forever. Yet, Jesus calls them into something new—something holy. That’s the nature of hope in Christ: it invades our everyday moments and invites us into something new and transformation begins. We are the group of fishermen today. We are pressing in to hear what it is that Jesus is teaching us, yet pushing away when that direction is not what we want or want to hear.

Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate fulfillment.

Through the cross and empty tomb, He has delivered us—not from physical captivity, but from sin and death. He offers us a new beginning. A new identity. A new future. He is always doing something new in us, if only we’re willing to see it and receive it.

Prayer:
Lord, awaken in me the expectancy of hope. Thank You for the resurrection—the ultimate proof that You are always doing something new. Help me to trust You, follow You, and rejoice in the transformation You bring. Amen.