The Shame of Unreasonable Expectations Before God

Isaiah 20:5 pronounces shame upon those who place their trust in false hopes: "They shall be ashamed of their expectation." The Victorian preacher T. M. Morris identified a universal human ailment—unreasonable expectations that breed disappointment across every station of life.

Morris observed that young and old, rich and poor, masters and servants, husbands and wives, parents and children all suffer equally from expecting what they have no right to demand. He noted with penetrating wisdom that "much of the worry and mortification of life may be accounted for by our expecting what we have no right to expect."

The remedy lies not in cynical resignation—"Blessed is the man who expects nothing"—but in dispassionate self-examination. When we sit quietly and consider what we might reasonably expect "living in a world like this," we discover we are receiving more than we deserve. Our neighbors treat us "quite as fairly, honourably, and tenderly" as we treat them.

This principle applies with particular force to our relationship with Elohim. Christian expectations must be limited by Scripture's explicit promises, not by the fantasies we construct. The shame Isaiah pronounces falls upon those who have trusted in Egypt's strength rather than Adonai's covenant. We escape this condemnation by aligning our hopes with God's revealed will, accepting His providence with gratitude rather than demanding what He has not promised.