I know…
Many of you know me personally and some of you know me only through this blog, but I am sure as you read the words I have written you have become more familiar with me. You have insights about my past, about my family, and about some of the struggles and victories I have experienced in my life. You are FAMILIAR with me. If someone asked you, you might respond, “Yes, I know her and she is a lovely person.” Okay. You might not say the last part, but I can try. 😉
Often it is a source of pride to be familiar with people, events, and experiences. Familiarity gives you a sense of security. You feel secure because you are not in unchartered territory. You can likely predict how someone will respond, how something will turn out or what will likely happen next because you are familiar with it. This weekend I was blown away as one of our pastors preached on Expectation, especially when he kept saying “You get what you expect.” Jokingly I wondered if he had read my blog, but I know that it was God speaking to his children and oftentimes when He gives revelation, it is confirmed through someone else. One thing my pastor talked about was the relation between familiarity and expectations. This intrigued me, so our Alphabet Soup letter ‘F’ stands for familiarity. Thank you Pastor Jonas.
Familiarity in the Bible
There are several instances in the Bible where familiarity proves to be ineffective in God’s economy. David was a boy in the field caring for sheep. He was initially overlooked by his father, Jesse when the prophet Samuel came looking for a king in Jesse’s household. During the reign of King Saul he was often summoned to play music for the king when he got into a bad mood. He was a musically talented shepherd who was appointed to be king after Saul. But to many, especially his brothers, he was just a shepherd boy. When David saw Goliath he was outraged that no one had gone out to fight him. But his brother chastised him for thinking he could go fight Goliath. David was relentless, but his brother was familiar with who he was, a shepherd boy that needed to be attending to his flock. Little did he know, this shepherd boy would be the one who would defeat Goliath single handedly in the strength and power of the Lord. (1 Sam. 17:12-51)
Who would ever imagine that a carpenter’s son would one day have all power, wisdom and authority? And not even a carpenter from a hustling, bustling city, a carpenter from Nazareth. Jesus was born to a carpenter, not exactly a highly respected position, so many from his hometown remembered him as Jesus, the carpenter’s son. Meanwhile, Jesus had been out performing miracles, teaching with all wisdom and authority, healing the sick, casting out demons before returning his hometown. The people there were familiar with him, they knew his family, his background and so they didn’t expect much from him. Familiarity blocked their blessings because they took offense at him. He was unable to perform many miracles there due to their unbelief. They could not believe that Jesus, the carpenter’s son, came back home with all this so called wisdom, authority and power. Familiarity. (Matt. 13:53-58)
Familiarity puts people, places, and things in a self-defined box. When we become familiar we often begin to trust more in previous experiences and past knowledge and forget to exercise faith. Familiarity negates faith. We begin to think we know the capacity of people, we look at transformed people with filtered lenses, often neglecting that the power of God could be at work in them. If you are a transformed believer, I am sure you have encountered instances in your “hometown” where certain people continue to keep you in a box instead of recognizing the transformation that God has done in your life. Familiarity also leads to comfort. We are comfortable with what we know. In order to grow we must be comfortable with being uncomfortable and this may require entering into things, relationships, places, positions, etc. that you are unfamiliar with. How can you experience the miracles and blessings of God if you never take the leap of faith he is beckoning you towards? 
Are you FAMILIAR with God?
I have found myself at times thinking I already know the outcome of a situation based on previous experiences. Well, it is true, you get what you expect because what you think and speak begins to determine the actions that you take that lead to an expected outcome. If you know the outcome do you exercise any faith? When we don’t exercise faith, we don’t please God. We can’t possibly know what God is going to do next, we don’t know the future only God does. But often we put ourselves in God’s place and leave him out of the equation. We are familiar with past events so we don’t entertain the ‘what if’? What if God delivers that person from alcoholism, what if God wants to perform a miracle in your life, what if God sends the most unlikely person to give you a word of hope? What if? God has infinitely more power, wisdom, and ability than we will ever have. We will never fully know the mysteries of God on this side of heaven. “The things that are impossible with man are possible with God. “ (Luke 18:27, KJV)
I challenge you to throw familiarity out the window. It may be blocking your miracles and your blessings, too. I do not by any means encourage disregarding discernment and wisdom (from God of course) but familiarity, it.can.go! Let’s begin taking a fresh look at things. Look at your spouse, children, job, co-workers, finances, living situation, position, relationship status through God’s eyes. God tells us he is doing a new thing (Isa. 43:19) so let’s stop expecting the same old, same old. We get what we expect. Instead of relying on familiarity and past experiences, walk by faith and see what wonderful things God has in store for you!
I truly believe the best is yet to come. In what ways have you been relying on familiarity instead of exercising faith? Consider even the little things like ‘knowing’ that taking Tylenol will cure your headache instead of believing God can heal you without medication….where can you get rid of familiarity and replace it with faith so you can see God’s hand move in your life on a daily basis?