It happens. Being Disappointed that is. It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when. We start young dealing with disappointment. It’s the birthday invitation that everyone else in class got and you didn’t. It’s the envelope in the mail that looked like a wonderful surprise and it turned out to be bad news. It’s the unwrapping of a gift and you look inside the box and wonder what to say, how to be thankful and where can you regift it?
We live with disappointment. We’re not the only ones; in the Bible often we find men and women of God facing life and being disappointed in things that happened or didn’t happen. Abraham changed his story and had Sarah say she was his sister; the disappointment when Abimelek found out Sarah was his wife. Disappointed because she was beautiful, and that he hadn’t been told the truth. The reality of Naomi and the disappointment in her heart as her husband died and then her sons and left her in a foreign land. That wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a oxen cart full of grand-kids coming to Grandma Naomi’s house for Sabbath and playing with the cousins. You can imagine every step of the walk back home reminded her of the disappointment life had brought her. She named herself, Mara. Ruth 1:20 reminds us ” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.”
That’s what disappointment does; it makes us bitter. Even those who seem to float over disappointment have to admit there is a sour taste in the mouth for a bit, a pain in the heart and a tear in the eye when disappointment opens the door and walks in. Handling our disappointment with God’s hands on our heart is the challenge. God will not allow something into our lives that hasn’t gone through his hands first. God makes sure that it’s not more than we can handle, although in the middle of disappointment we would probably argue with God big time! God also knows that when we walk on the other side of the river of disappointment, we will look back and see where he was either leading us or carrying us. We are never in our disappointments alone. God also reminds us in James to confess our faults to one another.
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Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. |
Disappointment is not the sin; the sin is letting the disappointment steal our joy and redirect our focus off God to our pity parties. Confessing our disappointment to others and praying together; I don’t do that well! Okay- I don’t do that at all. I just stay disappointed. I get grumpy. I get bend out of my spiritual goals and I tend to think more about the disappointment than the appointment. For a disappointment is simply an appointment that gets rescheduled. Not always is God saying no, but he changes the time and the date. I came to an appointment this a.m. and a little lady was arguing with the secretary. It seemed her appointment was for 10 a.m. but she thought it was 9. She had called to change her time and someone didn’t put it down. She was beyond disappointed. She still had the appointment, but she had to wait an hour. She was a great reminder of how I feel and act. Ornery, argumentative, stomped her cane on the ground and grunted. She looked quite funny doing her little pouting. And then- I realized that is me when I am disappointed. Except probably not as cute!
I just saw her a few minutes ago; coming out of her appointment. The disappointment of having things not her way was over. She was going about her day. Did it make a big difference in her life? No, but in her mind it was bigger than an elephant in a small room. We tend to make our disappointments more important than the appointment. God makes the appointments. When things change, we make them disappointments.
My challenge; to be more real with my disappointments and get my focus back on the one who makes the appointments. Eventually, I see the good in the dis…appointment. Eventually I see God leading to a rescheduled appointment. My challenge will be to see it sooner than later and change my pouting to gratefulness.
Special Touch Ministry 
Thanks, hon. Well said and a good way to remember. Blessings to you. Consider yourself hugged!
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Very thought provoking
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