Disappointment

I came across a quote from Billy Graham about disappointment. “Nowhere has God promised anyone, even His children, immunity from sorrow, suffering, and pain. This world is a ‘vale of tears,’ and disappointment and heartache are as inevitable as clouds and shadows. Suffering is often the crucible in which our faith is tested. Those who successfully come through the ‘furnace of affliction’ are the ones who emerge ‘like gold tried in the fire.’”

Disappointment brings feelings of sadness or frustration and often sets in when our expectations are not met. It is an experience common to mankind. I think I would be safe in saying that everyone has experienced disappointment at some point in their life.

I went to the Bible to find the “Five-Step Plan for Overcoming Disappointment,” but was unable to find that section in the Scriptures. Instead, I found God calling people to Himself as a remedy for the disappointments in life.

He reminds us of His love: Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

He reminds us of His faithfulness: 2 Timothy 2:13: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

He reminds us of His Promises: Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

No matter what life holds, no matter the disappointment, we can trust Him with the smallest and the biggest circumstances of our lives. Amen

After 76 years of life, there is one thing I have discovered … part of living is learning to handle disappointments. Life is not fair, essentially in that it does not treat us all the same.

Our bodies age differently. Disease strikes us (or doesn’t) differently. We have differing talents and opportunities. While we strive for equality and equity in all forms of government, justice, economics, education, it does not always happen.

We each have different hopes and dreams. When those hopes and dreams are not realized, disappointment often floods our soul, sometimes accompanied by a bit of envy or jealousy. We wish we could have or do what others possess or experience.

You would think after 76 years disappointments would not hurt as much. But they still do. Maybe they even hurt a bit more because they are often compounded with disappointments in the past, or merged with the realization that there is not much I can do about them anymore.

What we experience in this life on this earth is often not fair. Scripture often reminds us of the difficulties we will face and the attitudes we will need when those afflictions come our way.

Romans 5:1-5: “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” [HCSB]

Life may disappoint, but I never need worry that the hope I have placed in God will disappoint. I needed that this morning.