I want to revisit this theme from a slightly different viewpoint, looking at some of the underlying motives we have to try to gain favor from God or another authority figure but fail in such attempts.
Genesis 3
The first example chronologically is that of Adam and Eve, who do not exactly fit that mold in that they are created with a perfect relationship with God and do not really have to earn it at all. Their root problem is the one expressed by Ariel in The Little Mermaid: “I want more.” And that craving creates the gap between man and God that mankind has trying to close ever since that time.
Genesis 4
Thus, the above story is swiftly followed by that of Cain, whose sacrifice was not accepted by God (v. 5). There has been much speculation regarding the exact reason for God's rejection, but there is no doubt from subsequent events that it resulted in Cain's extreme jealousy of Abel's status as elevated above his own in God's eyes. In any case, Cain was condemned to be a wanderer from that point on, a fate which he refused to accept.
Genesis 27
That same sibling rivalry regarding a father's favor appears next in the story of Isaac inadvertently giving the blessing to Jacob instead of the elder Esau. And as in the previous example, this jealousy leads to the desire to kill. Of course, Esau has no real right to complain since he had earlier given up the birthright as if it were not worth anything.
Genesis 34
The brothers Levi and Simeon take revenge on a wrong done to their sister when their father refuses to act himself. Rather than being praised for their action by Jacob, he criticizes them (34:30) and ultimately gives them a poor blessing as he nears death (Genesis 49:5).
Numbers 22-24
These chapters cover the sad career of Balaam the prophet who attempted to manipulate God into going along with his scheme to win a handsome reward from the King of Moab for cursing Israel. But instead, God manipulated him into giving a blessing to Israel instead, causing Balaam to lose his fat fee.
Judges 5:28-31
In this poem of Deborah, we are imaginatively transported to the home of General Sisera as she daydreams about all the valuable booty her son will be bringing back from the battle with Israel. Instead, we are brought back to harsh reality in the last verse and reminded that not only will the enemy of God's people not bring any goods with him, he himself is never returning to her.
II Samuel 1:1-16
Here we have the story of an Amelekite soldier who rushes to David in order to be the first to inform him that his enemy Saul is dead and to falsely take credit for the kill. To his dismay, David does not take the news with delight but bawls out the man for killing God's chosen before having him struck down dead for his supposed deed.
II Samuel 6:3-8
In the same book is the story of Uzzah, who steps forward to steady the Ark of the Covenant when he thinks it is about to fall while being transported. This would seem to our eyes to entitle him to at least an honorable mention among the heroes of the Old Testament. But in a surprising twist, God strikes him dead for an action that most of us would feel is an entirely noble one.
Job 42:7-9
Through most of the long book, Job's friends have been attempting to get him to admit that he has done something wrong which merited God's anger. And they are quick to defend God when Job comes close to accusing God of an act of injustice toward him. But at the end of the book, it is they who are are not only not praised by God for doing this but are instead chastised for their words, not Job.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26
I am not quite sure whether this example really fits in with the others; much depends on what the Teacher King expected to be the outcome of the various experiments in living he carried out. In turn, he tested the results of following wisdom, pleasure, and great works of construction. And in each case, he found that the outcome was futile in producing anything truly lasting, especially if it was done while leaving God out of the equation. If the Teacher was disappointed in this final conclusion, at least he arrived in the end with a much better appreciation of the reality of God's wisdom compared to man's.
Amos 5:18
In this short wake-up call to the people of Israel, the prophet warns them that they should not go around looking forward to the Day of Judgment because it will not be others who are shamed on that day, it will be them for their many sins.
Matthew 7:23
The examples continue into the New Testament as well, beginning with this story of Jesus concerning the Day of Judgment. At that time there will be some who come to Him expecting a great heavenly reward for all the miraculous deeds they have carried out on earth. But rather than receiving such a reward, he tells them that he never knew them. And the only explanation given for this judgment is that they had not done the will of God.
Luke 11:27-28
In this strange encounter, an unnamed woman cries out to Jesus from the crowd: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you.” But he replies, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” Was he just trying lift the conversation back to a more spiritual plane, or was this perhaps a mild rebuke for her attempt to grab the attention of the crowd away from him and to herself? We don't really know. But in any case, she did not get any of the appreciation of Jesus she might have expected for her words of flattery.
In a way, this story is quite similar to the time Jesus is teaching a crowd and someone helpfully points out to Him that his mother and brothers are outside. Instead of thanking that person for informing him, Jesus says, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?...whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Luke 8:19-25) Tilden also points out the correspondence between these two accounts.
Luke 18:18-25
In this encounter, Jesus is approached by a rich ruler and impresses Jesus with his grasp of Scripture. But rather than praising him, Jesus tells him he is still lacking something and must sell his goods, give them to the poor, and follow Him. This is not at all the reception the man had expected from Jesus and he goes away sorrowful.
Acts 8
This chapter contains the story of Simon the magician who enthusiastically followed the Apostles and accepted their teachings wholeheartedly. But then he saw that they possessed the special gift of laying hands on others. At that point, he decided he had to have the gift himself no matter how much it cost. Peter roundly chastises him for attempt to buy the gift of God and tells him he had better shape up or he was in danger of losing what he already had.
Revelation 3:1-2
Finally we come to the example of the church at Sardis which thought it was alive, but had to be informed by Jesus that it was in reality almost moribund. They needed a wake-up call before it was too late.
So looking back at all these examples of dashed expectations, what were the root causes for their disappointments?
Wanting More Than We Have Been Given
This was the root desire of Adam and Eve as well as Simon the Magician and possibly the Teacher of Ecclesiastes. Anyone who is constantly wanting more than the many blessings God has already given him is lacking in a sense of gratefulness and will live a frustrated life here on earth.
Wanting More than Others Have
It is funny how we can often be satisfied with our present lot in life until we see someone who has more than we do. At that point, envy and covetousness set in. We see this first in Cain, and it was certainly the case with Esau, who was more than adequately blessed in life.
Wanting Something We Did Not Deserve
In this category, I think of the examples of General Sisera's mother who did not care what sort of blood needed to be shed from God's people as long as she got her share of the booty. And then there was the also unnamed Amelekite soldier who resorted to out-and-out lying in order to get a reward from David. One could also include Cain here since God had already told him that all he had to do was what was right in order to please Him.
Wanting to Help Others Out
This would appear to be a noble motive until one takes into account that one's father (in the case of Levi and Simeon) or Heavenly Father (in the case of Uzzah) is not so helpless as to need our help and may have a good reason we do not understand regarding his action or inaction, as the case may be. Into this same category we could also place the woman in the crowd who added her unsolicited endorsement of Jesus and His ministry. But Jesus certainly did not need help from such an interruption and quickly turned the conversation back to more important spiritual matters.
Wanting to Bend God to Our Own Will
This was certainly the situation regarding Balaam and probably factored in to Simon's motives as well. Interestingly, money was undoubtedly part of the lure in each case.
Being Satisfied With Where We Are Spiritually
This was the fault of the Sardis church, which apparently had enough accolades from those around them to feel very comfortable and unwilling to admit that they had any faults at all. There have been all too many examples of such megachurches in America which fell apart entirely due to a creeping rot which had set in and which no one was willing to admit was present.
Closely related to this problem were the Jews that Amos addressed who were totally confident that God would give them an A when the Judgment Day came. The prophet has to point out that their sins are so great that they will be lucky to be given a D.
Feeling That We Can Earn Salvation Through Our Own Efforts
At least, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes came to the conclusion that his own efforts, even with his great wisdom and resources, was not enough even to assure happiness in this life, let alone the next. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of those who come to Christ on Judgment Day and unsuccessfully plead their many accomplishments in God's name as reasons for getting let into the Kingdom. We don't know the entire story behind these unfortunates, but it is obvious that they are attempting to take personal credit for gifts which came from God in the first place. It is sort of like the Amelekite wrongfully claiming to have done a deed which he did not all do in hopes of a reward.
All of these examples are salutary ones which we should certainly take to heart.
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