Expectant, Trusting Eyes

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“She looked so expectant!”

With this, Ester explained why she gave a morsel of her food to our bunny, Moon. Moon has quite stolen our hearts since she became part of our household in March. To give you an idea of just how much this is the case, I’ll share this with you: I, too, have stooped to feeding her bits of veggies from the table. How can I not, when she puts her soft little paws on my leg and looks up at me with such expectant eyes?

I was surprised at myself when this happened the other day. For the last twenty years of pet ownership, I have never fed any of our cats or dogs from the table. I have held a firm stance against such behavior. I have insisted that my family not reward their begging. My rules against handing out table scraps have been firm and consistent. After all, who wants to have meows or barks or whines regaling you when you are trying to enjoy your meal? Not I.

But now we have bunnies, for the first time in my life. This changes everything. Bunnies don’t make any noise. They just look adorable and fluffy. And innocently expectant.

There’s something in the human heart (especially a soft one like mine) that responds to this kind of trusting expectancy.

I was reading a story this morning where expectancy moved Jesus to action. There’s something distinctly attention grabbing about this one: Jesus had apparently specifically planned not to do anything to intervene in this particular circumstance. Remember His first miracle at the wedding in Cana? Do you recall His interaction with Mary?

“Jesus answered, ‘Dear woman, why come to me? My time has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you to do’” (John 2:4-5, NCV).

Mary was expectant. For whatever reason, it mattered greatly to her that this wedding host not be disgraced by a shortage of wine. From Jesus’ answer, we gather that He was not there to perform miracles that day. It was not the time He had planned on for commencing His public supernatural demonstrations of power.

Mary could have shrugged her shoulders sadly and accepted that it was not time for a miracle. But she didn’t. She knew how loving He was. She knew how much He cared about what mattered to her. She knew His heart was already responding to her.

Knowing Jesus this way created expectancy in her heart. She was so confident that He was going to do this for her and for them, that she went ahead and ordered the servants to follow His instructions. And it worked. Jesus did. He responded to her expectancy. She got her miracle.

Are you expectant today? Are you confident that you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living? (Ps. 27:13). Are you looking up to Him with trusting eyes, anticipating His kindness?

A little bunny has captured my heart. You know what? Do you know that you have captured God’s heart? “You have captivated my heart,” He says. “You have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes…” (Song 4:9, ESV). When you look up at Him with trusting expectancy, it steals His heart… so much more so than a bunny ever could!

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Do you think that Jesus performed this miracle more out of concern for the wedding host, or loving response to Mary? Or both equally?

Also, how is it that Jesus was willing to seemingly contradict His statement that it wasn’t His time yet? Is it possible that God is willing to allow us to have an impact on His planned timetable? What do you think?